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In an apparent criticism of the west while talking about the climate crisis, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on Sunday, while addressing thousands of Indian-Americans at a community event in New York, that India has no role in causing destruction to the world. “India represents about 17 percent of the world’s population, and despite that, our contribution to emission is about only four per cent,” Modi reportedly said.
India’s focus on green energy is generating significant employment opportunities, Modi further said. While other nations have historically relied on carbon-heavy growth, India is taking a different approach with minimal carbon emissions, driven by its cultural reverence for nature, he added. The country is prioritising investments in renewable energy sources like solar, wind, hydro, green hydrogen, and nuclear power, he also highlighted in the speech.
This comes at a time when western countries including scientists have been blaming India apart from China for an increase in the annual emissions of CO2 in the recent years.
Global Carbon Project, a group of international scientists known to produce the gold standard of emissions counting, earlier stated that in 2023 1.1% more heat-trapping carbon dioxide was released into the air than the previous year because of increased pollution from China and India. The experts further claimed that India’s emissions went up 233 million metric tons in 2023 from the previous year.
However, reports have also highlighted that the fact about countries in the Global North, the USA, UK, Japan, France and Germany in particular, increasingly outsourcing key parts of their industrial processes has been overlooked here. They have argued that only counting carbon emitted within that country or ‘territorial emissions,’ might not give one the clearer and real picture about the global scenario of emissions.
An expert analysis by Carbon Brief about countries who are historically the most responsible for climate change has shown that the ‘US has released more than 509GtCO2 since 1850 and is responsible for the largest share of historical emissions, with some 20% of the global total.’ The analysis also showed that China is a relatively distant second, with 11%, followed by Russia (7%), Brazil (5%) and Indonesia (4%).
India has earlier urged developing countries to address climate change using a “local lens” rather than following the Western “one-size-fits-all” approach. It criticised current global strategies as flawed and unsuitable for all regions.
A pre-Budget economic survey earlier presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted that India’s per capita carbon emissions are about one-third of the global average, despite its rapid economic growth. India’s climate action record is better than many wealthy nations with higher historical emissions, the survey stressed while citing an International Finance Corporation report indicating that India is the only G20 country on track to limit global warming to 2°C by the end of the century.
References:
Analysis: Which countries are historically responsible for climate change?
https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey/doc/Infographics%20English.pdf
Banner photo: Narendra Modi’s post on X
