Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already moved beyond India's 75th anniversary as a modern nation and is laying the roadmap for a centennial India.
Speaking today at the virtual Climate Action Summit 2020 to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, Modi said: "I solemnly pledge that centennial India will not just meet it's own [climate] targets but will also exceed expectations."
The prime minister spoke about India's phenomenal achievements in climate change mitigation over the last five years, saying that India's performance has already exceeded expectations.
He said India has lowered emission intensity by 21 per cent over 2005 levels and has already installed a solar capacity of 36GW as of date. He noted that India has the fourth largest renewable energy capacity in the world, which should touch 175 GW by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030.
For those who were expecting that India might announce a revised ambition on climate change mitigation, the PM pointed out that while revising ambitions, it is also important to review what has been achieved against targets already set. "Only then will voices be credible."
Though the prerecorded speech was too short to expand upon this point, on Friday, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had pointed out that commitments worth trillions of dollars by the western world have not yet seen the light of the day, specially in the transfer of technology.
Modi touched upon the two India-led initiatives—the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure—as India's international contributions in the last five years.
