The US said that Modi also during his bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama had suggested that developed countries should help developing countries with capacity building to undertake the requisite monitoring and reporting of climate actions that countries had pledged.
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Speaking at the opening of the COP21 climate conference yesterday, prime minister Narendra Modi promoted his idea of a “solar alliance” of 120 countries.
“This is an alliance that brings together developed and developing countries, governments and industries, laboratories and institutions in a common enterprise”, he said at the launch of the International Solar Alliance.
Amar Singh Sawhney, a member of EcoSikh’s Board of Directors and CEO of Boston-based Ocular Therapeutix Inc, said there is a cost to using fossil fuel-based energy that goes beyond global warming and its catastrophic climate change implications. “This is in our collective interest”, Modi said.
Calling for cooperation between the House, the PM, quoting India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, said, “Pandit Nehru said to make our Constitution effective like any democracy there should be a mutual cooperation between the Houses”.
Scientists estimate that if the world warms by more than 2°C on average above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century, the effects of climate change will become catastrophic and irreversible.
Noting that energy sources and “excesses” of industrial age have put the planet in peril, Modi said the world must turn to sun to power the future.
The Guardian also noted that India’s prime minister has rejected any climate deal that would restrict the country’s development. Modi also listed India’s ambitious targets to tackle climate change.
“Justice demands that, with what little carbon we can still safely burn, developing countries are allowed to grow”. Already Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has weighed in on the side of fellow actor Aamir Khan, who has been under pressure for speaking up about intolerance in India. The world must work together and in a fair and just manner to facilitate a natural transition to a clean energy era through affordable and accessible renewable energy.
The prime minister promised that India will contribute land and $30 million to build the secretariat infrastructure of the International Solar Alliance.
The initiative is expected to encourage technology exchange and innovation and create new business opportunities in India and globally. It will require China to deploy additional 800-1,000 gigawatt of nuclear, wind, solar and other zero-emission generation capacity by 2030 – more than all the coal-fired power plants that exist in China today.
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In his 40-minute reply to the debate during which the government came under attack over “intolerance”, Modi said, “if there is any incident of atrocity against anybody, it is a blot on all of us, for the society as well as the nation”.
