PM Modi calls for concrete action on climate change

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 22

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called on world leaders to take “concrete action at high speed” to combat the impending disaster of climate change.

Pointing out that humanity’s ongoing battle against Covid is a timely reminder that the grave threat of climate change has not disappeared, PM Modi said the world needs to take large scale action with global scope in order to avert another human catastrophe.

The Prime Minister was the second national leader invited by Biden to speak on the opening day of the two-day virtual climate summit, after the Chinese President Xi Jinping. Biden had delivered the inaugural address which was then addressed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the next leader to speak after PM Modi.

PM Modi also announced the joint launch with Biden of the India-US climate and clean energy agenda partnership. The issue was discussed between PM Modi and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry here earlier this month. “Officials of the two countries will pursue ways in which they can deepen their partnership on climate and clean energy in this critical decade,” read a State Department readout of Kerry’s India visit.

While pointing out that India has encouraged several global initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilience, PM Modi said the world needed to “go back to basics” in order to save the environment.   

India’s per capita carbon footprint is 60% lower than global average because the lifestyle of its people is still rooted in sustainable traditional practices. “I want to emphasise the importance of lifestyle change. The guiding philosophy of back-to-basics must be an important pillar of strategy for the post-Covid era,” he observed.

Earlier, Biden outlined an aggressive target which, he said, “will set America on a path of a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050”. The White House’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% is nearly double the target set by the Obama administration in 2015.