PM Narendra Modi says India will achieve net-zero emissions by 2070

Glasgow: At the Glasgow COP26 global climate summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered to the world five promises that he called Panchamrita.

In the Indian way of life, amrita is known as an elixir of life, and the Panchamrita--a mixture of five sweet liquids--is offered to deities during prayers.

The PM could not have chosen a better word.

His five promises for preserving and protecting our climate were an elixir for the summit that was headed nowhere because of the developed world's pussyfooting around the real challenges, and their lack of commitment to real goals.

Just a day before Modi's speech, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had warned the summit was headed for failure. After two days of discussions at the G-20 conference, Johnson had talked about the lack of progress and put the chances of the summit's success as "six out of 10."

In this milieu of gloom and doom, Modi provided the missing leadership, direction and infused new optimism.

Modi committed to a target of net zero emissions by 2070. This is a huge announcement considering that unlike the West and other developed countries, India is decades away from its peak growth. To achieve its growth potential, India's energy requirements are expected to grow over the years. But, Modi showed the world that a developing country like India is willing to think for everyone and not just itself.

This is a stunning message to the West and China, who have refused to commit to take measures to restrict global temperature rises to below 1.5C because of their business interests. These countries, the world's biggest polluters, have been called out for their greed and selfish interests, but the criticism has had very little impact on them.

But, Modi showed them what commitment to climate change really means. At the moment, India is far away from reducing its reliance on coal as the biggest source of energy. Other renewable sources of clean energy are in the process of development and will require huge investments in both production technology and storage capacities. In addition, India has been kept out of the Nuclear Suppliers Group because of the intransigence of China, cutting New Delhi's access to cleaner, cheaper sources of fuel. In this backdrop of supply restrictions and the impending increase in demand, Modi's commitment to net zero restrictions is a bold initiative.

Critics might carp over the fact that India plans to reach net zero emissions by 2070--a full two decades after the deadline set by Us and Europe. But, this is the most realistic target achievable by a country that is just about catching up with the developed countries and has historically contributed very little to the world's carbon footprint. As Modi himself pointed out, India is home to 17 per cent of the global population, but is responsible for only 5 per cent of global emissions. Also, India's population is still growing, thus making it difficult to cut down its energy requirements. But, Modi said India is sticking to its pledges in letter and spirit because climate change is not just a summit but a "sentiment and a commitment."

Modi called out the developed world for its half-hearted pledges. He exhorted them to invest more money in the project and urged for greater accountability of those who just talk about climate change and deliver very little. And, he said, India is willing to show the world a way by laying out clearly defined targets.

In this backdrop, Modi's four other announcements were a bold play at putting the ball in the half of the developed nations. He pointed to a clear path towards India's goal of zero net emissions and a clean-green earth with 2030 as an important milestone. He said by 2030 India will a) reach its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW, b) meet 50 per cent requirements from renewable energy, c) reduce its total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes, and d) reduce the carbon intensity of its economy to less than 45 per cent.

All these targets--higher than the pledge made in the previous summit at Paris-- clearly underlined the fact that India will start dealing with the crisis in a phased manner and showcase its tangible achievements in less than a decade. In this context, the commitment to cut down emissions by a billion tonnes is historic because at the moment they are actually growing around 5 per cent every year.

Modi's stance will now be a clear template for the world on how to balance development and still commit to the climate and leave a better world for the future generations.

Modi has offered India's Panchamrita to humanity's biggest deity--Mother Earth. The world should follow.