India vows to meet commitments to climate change: Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Paris: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India will fulfil all its responsibilities with regard to climate change as he met US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the climate summit here. The world must turn to solar, the power of our future.

“Developing affordable solar technologies and attracting the considerable investment required to finance the envisioned solar transition are critical steps to support India and other countries to achieve their ambitious clean energy goals set as part of the Paris negotiations”, she said.

Natural Resources Defense Council President Rhea Suh said, “It has the potential to propel worldwide solar markets forward, all while fighting climate change, improving global health and boosting economies”. But it wants countries like India and China also to make firm commitments in this regard.

“We have to introspect, look at the vision of our founding fathers and raise our level far more”, said Modi. “We will provide land and contribute approximately $30 million to build the Secretariat infrastructure”, he said.

A member of the Pakistani delegation from the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, an Islamabad based think-tank who also attended the conference said PM Sharif told him that PM Modi approached him and he told him that “Pakistan is concerned about terrorist activities within its borders and that they should talk about it”.

The Indian side described the encounter as a “brief exchange of courtesies”, but Pakistan termed it as a “good” meeting.

“The dream of universal access to clean energy is becoming more real”, Mr Modi said at the climate change summit in Paris on Monday. “Anything else would be morally wrong”, he wrote, adding: “Justice demands that, with what little carbon we can still safely burn, developing countries are allowed to grow”.

More than 120 countries have been invited to participate in the International Solar Alliance, many of which are located in Africa and Asia.

The launch coincided with a summit of world leaders at the start of two weeks of talks on the outskirts of Paris to seek a new global deal on curbing climate change, by shifting from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.

We are looking at something in 200 GW of solar and wind energy by 2030.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday outlined India’s plans to reduce carbon emissions and said India has advanced targets to cut carbon emissions and switch to clean energy, but said the country reserved its right to development and progress like developed countries.