Unexpectedly!India pledges to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070 at COP26 Climate Summit | Anue Juheng-International Political Economy

Indian Prime Minister Modi announced at the United Nations COP26 climate summit on Monday (1st) that net zero carbon emissions will be achieved by 2070. The bold commitment made by the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter will allow officials and scholars present to Feeling pleasantly surprised.

India’s declaration gave the disappointing results of the G20 meeting in Rome at the weekend and injected new life into it. Although India’s goal is 20 years behind that of rich countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, it still meets the timetable that scientists believe to avoid catastrophic global warming.

Nicholas Stern, Dean of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said: “This is a major moment for the climate summit! It is also an opportunity for India to show that economic development and (confronting) climate change can go hand in hand.”

India, the United States, and China are the world’s top three polluters and the focus of the climate summit. U.S. President Biden did not bring new commitments due to domestic political issues, China did not propose a new carbon reduction plan, and Chinese President Xi Jinping did not attend in person.

For India to achieve net zero emissions, it needs at least several trillion U.S. dollars in funding. At the meeting, Modi once again called on rich countries to help poor countries raise funds in order to accelerate the move towards clean energy, but he did not mention the exact amount of Olympic aid that India needs from the international community.

Modi said: “India hopes that developed countries can provide 1 trillion U.S. dollars so that climate financing can be obtained as soon as possible.” However, this amount is 10 times the annual financing amount promised by the rich countries.

Modi also proposed a phased goal of net zero emissions in 2070: 500GW of low-carbon energy production capacity in 2030 (previously 400GW), half of the country’s electricity use renewable energy; before the end of the 2030s, reduce corporate carbon dioxide emissions by 1 billion tons ; Develop the details of the 40-year plan between 2030 and 2070.

In order to ensure that global warming does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, the United Nations intergovernmental group has formulated a climate change plan, calling for net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 and net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2070.