British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, right, greet India Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday addressed the COP26 key climate summit which took place in Glasgow and presented India's vision for a sustainable future. Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister attended the opening ceremony of the COP26 alongside other world leaders at the Scottish Exhibition Centre.
Modi, who arrived in Glasgow on Sunday night from Rome, was received by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres upon his arrival at the summit venue. IN PICTURES
Presenting India's vision at the crucial summit, PM Modi said, "We have to make adaptation the main part of our development policies and schemes. In India, schemes like 'Nal Se Jal', Clean India Mission & Ujjawala have not only given adoption benefits to our citizens but also improved their quality of life."
"Many traditional communities have knowledge of living in harmony with nature. To make sure that this knowledge flows to next generations, it should be added to schools syllabus. Protection of lifestyle suitable to local conditions can also be an important part of adoption," PM Modi added.
The Prime Minister further mentioned, "there is a need to include climate change adaptation policies in school syllabus to make next-generation aware of issues."
"From sources of drinking water to affordable housing, all need to be made resilient against climate change," he added.
"When I came to Paris for the first time for the Climate Summit, I had no intention to add my own promise to other promises across the world. I had come with concern for humanity, as a representative of culture that gave message of Sarve Sukhinah Bhavantu," PM said.
"So for me, Paris event wasn't a Summit but a sentiment, a commitment & India wasn't making promises to the world, instead, 125 crore Indians were making promises to themselves. I am happy that a developing country like India is working to pull crores of people out of poverty," he mentioned.
"World today admits that lifestyle has a major role in climate change. I propose one-word movement before all of you. This word is LIFE which means Lifestyle for Environment. Today, it's needed that all of us come together & take forward LIFE as a movement," Modi said.
"At this global brainstorming on climate change, I present 5 'amrit tatva' from India. I gift this 'panchamrit'. First, India will bring its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030. Second, by 2030 India will fulfill 50% of its energy requirement through renewable energy."
"Third, India will cut down its net projected carbon emission by 1 billion ton from now until 2030. Fourth, by 2030 India will bring down carbon intensity of its economy by more than 45%. Fifth, by 2070 India will achieve the target of 'net zero,'" PM Modi said at COP26 World Leaders' Summit.
Earlier, Prime Minister Modi was then seen interacting animatedly with Johnson and Guterres. "Together for our planet! PM @narendramodi received by UK PM @BorisJohnson and UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres as he arrives at the Scottish Exhibition Centre to attend the World Leaders Summit of @COP26,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.
During the high-profile segment of the World Leaders’ Summit, Prime Minister Modi is expected to present the formal position on India's climate action agenda and lay out the best practices and achievements in the sector at the COP26 summit.
At the end of day one of the World Leaders’ Summit on Monday, Modi will join more than 120 Heads of Government and Heads of State at a special VVIP reception at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum – one of Scotland’s most popular visitor attractions.
The reception will also involve members of the royal family, including Prince Charles and wife Camilla and Prince William and wife Kate Middleton. Queen Elizabeth II was due to attend this special reception but pulled out last week after a medical advice against travel.
UK's Johnson warns world leaders as climate summit begins
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson opened a global climate summit, saying the world is strapped to a “doomsday device." Johnson likened the Earth's position to that of fictional secret agent James Bond — strapped to a bomb that will destroy the planet and trying to work out how to defuse it.
He told leaders on Monday that “we are in roughly the same position” — only now the “ticking doomsday device” is real and not fiction. He was kicking off the world leaders' summit portion of a UN climate conference, which is aimed at getting agreement to curb carbon emissions fast enough to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) below pre-industrial levels.
Britain's leader struck a gloomy note on the eve of the conference, after Group of 20 leaders made only modest climate commitments at their summit in Rome.
"Even though for 200 yrs industrialised nations were in complete ignorance of problems they were creating,we now have duty to find those funds-100 bn dollars a yr promised in Paris by '20 but which we won't deliver until '23 to help rest of world to move to green technology," Borris said.
"It was here in Glasgow 250 years ago, that James Watt came up with a machine that was powered by steam that was produced by burning coal. We brought you to the very place where the doomsday machine began."
"As we look at the Green Industrial Revolution, it's now needed around the world. We in the developed world must recognise the special responsibility we have, to help everybody else to do it."
"We are in roughly the same position my fellow global leaders as James Bond today except that the tragedy is this is not a movie… the doomsday device is real," he said, referring to the fictional spy who often ends his films fighting to stop a force from ending the world.
Johnson warned that two degrees more to global temperatures will jeopardise food supplies, three degrees more will bring more wildfires and cyclones, while four degrees and "we say goodbye to whole cities".
UN Secy-General António Guterres also voiced the same concern
"The 6 yrs since Paris Climate Agreement have been the 6 hottest yrs on record. Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink. We face a stark choice - either we stop it or it stops us. It's time to say, "enough," Guterres said.
"Enough of brutalising biodiversity, enough of killing ourselves with Carbon, enough of treating nature like a toilet, enough of burning, drilling&mining our way deeper. We're digging our own graves. Our planet is changing before our eyes."
ALSO READ: At G20 session, PM Modi highlights India's contribution in fight against COVID-19
