Munich/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged the rich countries of G-7 to support India’s efforts to take forward its climate commitments, saying that a huge market for clean energy technologies is emerging in India and the G-7 countries can invest in research, innovation, and manufacturing in this field.
Addressing the G7 plenary session on ‘Investing in a better Future: Climate, Energy, Health’ at Schloss Elmau, he said that India despite having 17% of the world’s population contributes to just 5% of the global carbon emissions, which is thanks to the lifestyle of Indians that is based on the theory of co-existence with nature.
“Our dedication to our climate commitments is evident from our performance. We have achieved the target of 40 percent energy-capacity from non-fossil sources nine years before time. The target of 10 percent ethanol-blending in petrol has been achieved five months before time. India has the world’s first fully solar power operated airport. India’s huge railway system will become net zero in this decade,” the PM said.
PM Modi stressed that “when a large country like India shows such ambition, other developing countries also get inspiration.
“We hope that the rich countries of G-7 will support India’s efforts. Today, a huge market for clean energy technologies is emerging in India. G-7 countries can invest in research, innovation, and manufacturing in this field. The scale that India can provide for every new technology can make that technology affordable for the whole world. The core theories of the circular economy have been an integral part of Indian culture and lifestyle.”
He also stressed on the LIFE – Lifestyle for Environment – movement which he had proposed at the COP26 in Glasgow last year.
He said that on World Environment Day this year, we launched the Global Initiative for LiFE campaign. “The goal of this campaign is to encourage an eco-friendly lifestyle. We can call the followers of this movement Triple-P i.e. ‘pro planet people’, and we should all take the responsibility of increasing the number of Triple-P people in our own countries. This will be our greatest contribution to the coming generations.”
He referred to the One World, One Health initiative and said that during the pandemic, India found many creative ways to use digital technology in the health sector. He proposed that the G7 countries can help India to take these innovations to other developing countries.
He also said that Yoga has become a great tool for preventive health for people all over the world, and has helped many people to maintain their physical and mental health in times of the pandemic. The world also celebrated the International Day of Yoga on June 21.
Referring to traditional medicine, he said that there is a valuable asset of traditional medicine in many countries of the world including India, which can be used for holistic health.
“I am glad that recently WHO decided to set up its Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India. This centre will not only become a repository of different traditional medicine systems all over the world but will also encourage more research in this area. It will benefit all the citizens of the world,” he added.
Earlier, in his address the PM said that unfortunately there is a belief that there is a fundamental collision between the developmental goals of the world and environmental protection.
“There is also another misconception that poor countries and poor people cause more damage to the environment. But, India’s history of over thousands of years completely refutes this view. Ancient India has seen a time of immense prosperity; then we have also tolerated the centuries of slavery, and now independent India is the fastest-growing big economy in the whole world.“But during this whole period, India did not let its commitment to the environment get diluted even a single bit. 17% of the world’s population resides in India. But, our contribution of global carbon emissions is only 5%. The main reason behind this is our lifestyle, which is based on the theory of co-existence with nature.”
He also took a pot shot at developed nations on energy access.
“All of you will also agree with this that energy access should not be the privilege of the rich only– a poor family also has the same rights on energy. And today when energy costs are sky-high due to geopolitical tensions, it is more important to remember this thing.”
He said India taking inspiration from this principle delivered LED bulbs and clean cooking gas door-to-door in India and showed that millions of tons of carbon emissions can be saved while ensuring energy for the poor.
