Modi commits to 450 GW non-fossil fuel target at Climate Summit

New York, Sep 23: Emphasising that climate change is an extremely serious crisis that the world is facing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called for "global behavioural change" at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York. PM said that the world was not doing enough to tackle the climate crisis. The PM underlined India's efforts to fight climate change.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in New York and speaking at the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres' High-Level Climate Action Summit.

"I thank UN Secretary-General for organising the Global Action Summit. Various efforts are being made to fight climate change. What is needed today is everything from education, values to lifestyle and behavioural change," PM Modi said at the Climate Action Summit.

PM Modi also pledged to more than double India's non-fossil fuel target to 450 gigawatts. In his Independence Day speech, Modi had announced that India will produce 175 GW of non-fossil fuel as part of its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. Today's announcement during Modi's speech at the global climate summit goes well beyond the pledge of 175 GW.

"We must accept that if we have to overcome a serious challenge like climate change, then what we are doing at the moment is just not enough," Modi told world leaders at the summit organised by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Modi noted that various efforts are being made by different countries to fight climate change and said what is needed today is a comprehensive approach which covers everything from education to values, and from lifestyle to developmental philosophy.

"The time for talking is over. The world needs to act now," Modi asserted in the presence of President Trump, who made an unscheduled appearance at the UN summit.

"The respect for nature, the judicious use of resources, reducing our needs and living within our means have all been important aspects of both our traditions and present-day efforts," he added.

He also spoke of his recent decision to ban single-use plastic and called for global awareness against single-use of plastic.

"We have provided clean cooking gas connections to millions of families. We have started 'Jal Jeevan' mission for water resource development, water conservation and rain water harvesting," he said.

"In India we have made plans to make our transport sector green through e-mobility. India is also working to considerably increase the proportion of the biofuel blend in petrol and diesel," Modi said.

Here are the highlights from PM Modi's speech:

• "We must accept that if we have to overcome such a serious challenge, then what we are doing today is not enough. What we need is global behavioural change," he said.
• "We believe that an ounce of practice is worth more than a ton of preaching," he said.
• "We have provided clean cooking gas connections to millions of families. We have started a 'Jal Jeevan' mission for water resource development, water conservation and rainwater harvesting."
• "The time for talking is over, the world needs to act now."
• "On this year's India's Independence Day, we called for a mass movement to have freedom from single-use plastic. I hope that this will raise awareness against the usage of single-use plastic, at a global level."
• "By 2022, we will increase our renewable energy capacity to much beyond 175 GW and we are committed to take it further to 450 GW."
• "Need, not Greed has been our guiding principle."
• "India today has come not just to talk about the seriousness of this issue, but to present a practical approach and a roadmap."
• "What we need is a global people's movement to bring about behavioural change."

The Climate Action Summit aims to boost action to implement the Paris Agreement, which was signed in 2015. The Paris deal aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Modi was the fourth speaker at the Summit, after Guterres, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and President of Marshall Islands Hilda Heine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke after Modi.

Modi was among the first set of speakers at the Summit's opening ceremony, a highly significant gesture given that only those Heads of State, Government and Ministers are invited to speak at the summit who will have any positive development to announce on climate action.