India will achieve net-zero target by 2070: Modi at COP26

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday (1) delivered a speech at COP26 climate summit where he said that India will achieve its net-zero target by 2070. He also said that the country will reach its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW and meet 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.

"By 2070, India will achieve the target of net-zero emissions," Modi announced before more than 120 world leaders at the critical talks.

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India is the latest of the world's major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target. China has said that it would reach that goal in 2060 while the US and the European Union are aiming to accomplish it in 2050.

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The prime minister also stressed on the need to include climate-change adaptation policies in school syllabi to make the next-generation aware of the critical issue.

“We have to make adaptation the main part of our development policies and schemes. In India, schemes like ‘Nal Se Jal’ (water from tap), Clean India Mission & Ujjawala have not only given adoption benefits to our citizens but also improved their quality of life,” he said.

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Here are some highlights of what Modi said in his speech at COP26:

• "We all know this truth that the promises made till date regarding climate finance have proved to be hollow. While we all are raising our ambitions on climate action, the world ambitions on climate finance cannot remain the same as they were at the time of Paris Agreement."
• "In the midst of this global brainstorming on climate change, on behalf of India, I would like to present five nectar elements, Panchamrit, to deal with this challenge.First- India will reach its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030."
• "Second- India will meet 50 percent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030. Third- India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now to 2030."

  Indian prime minister Narendra Modi with his British counterpart Boris Johnson (L) and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. on Monday, November 1, 2021. (Photo by Alastair Grant - Pool/Getty Images)

• "Fourth- By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy to less than 45 percent. And fifth - by 2070, India will achieve the target of Net Zero."
• "I propose to you today a One, One-Word Movement. This One-Word One word, in the context of climate, can become the basic foundation of One World-One World, can become the foundation. It is a word- LIFE...L, I, F, E, i.e. Lifestyle For Environment."
• "As a revolutionary step in solar power, we initiated the International Solar Alliance. We have created a coalition for disaster resilient infrastructure for climate adaptation. This is a sensitive and important initiative to save crores of lives."
• "More passengers than the entire population of the world travel by Indian Railways every year. This huge railway system has set itself a target of making itself 'Net Zero' by 2030. This initiative alone will reduce emissions by 60 million tonnes per annum."
• "Today, when I have come among you, I have also brought India's track record. My words are not just words, they are a cry for the bright future of the future generation. Today India is at number four in the world in installed renewable energy capacity."
• "For me the event in Paris was not a summit, it was a sentiment, it was a commitment. And India was not making those promises to the world, but those promises, 125 crore Indians, were making them to themselves."