US Special Presidential Envoy on Climate, John Kerry, who is on the last leg of his four-day visit to India met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, and agreed that the two countries can collaborate on a 2030 agenda on faster and affordable deployment of green technologies, and financing innovation in service of the world.
After the meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and informed, “Had an excellent discussion with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. His passion and commitment to expedite climate action are commendable. With our complementary strengths, India and US can creatively collaborate on a 2030 agenda for clean and green technologies in the service of the planet.”
Apropos a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs, India has been meeting its Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of the Paris Agreement and it is among the few counties which are on right track to meet these long-term sustainable goals.
India getting the job done on climate crisis says US envoy
Addressing the South Asia Women in Energy (SAWIE) leadership summit on Tuesday, John Kerry hailed India as a global leader in renewable energy for cutting carbon emissions and praised India for “getting the job done on climate crisis”.
Kerry further mentioned,” Decisions taken by India on climate will determine the paradigm shift in sustainable transformation for generations to come, and opportunity to uplift women’s empowerment.”
The net-zero goal
US will host the virtual Climate Leaders’ Summit on April 22-23 where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one of the invitees. In its bid to reclaim the global climate leadership, the US is expected to commit itself to a net-zero emission target for 2050, and it one of the major point of discussion of Mr. Kerry’s visit.
Net-zero, also known as carbon-neutrality, is a state in which a nation’s emissions are recompense by absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Absorption of the emissions can be improved by creating more carbon sinks such as forests, while removal of gases from the atmosphere requires the use of advanced technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
India leading the example by effective implementation of Paris Accord
New Delhi on the other hand has been leading by example by effectively implementing the framework of the Paris Agreement instead of opening up a parallel discussion on net-zero targets outside the accord.
According to various studies, India is the only G-20 country whose climate actions are compliant with the Paris Agreement goal for keeping the global temperature from rising beyond 2°C. Even the actions of the EU and the US are assessed as “insufficient”. In other words, India is well on its way to achieving its three targets under the Paris Agreement and looks likely to overachieve them.
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