PM: West’s emissions 6X more; climate preachers blocking clean energy efforts

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that developed nations produce six times more per capita carbon emissions than India, yet developing countries are often unfairly blamed for climate change.

Inaugurating an international conference on environment and climate, the prime minister also said the country is working at a fast pace on nuclear energy generation.

But, he said, whenever he takes forward work on nuclear energy generation, those who preach most loudly about the environment actively oppose clean energy solutions by filing court cases to halt the government’s nuclear initiatives.

“We all know that the responsibility for carbon emissions has often been wrongly placed on developing countries. While the historical truth is that even today, India’s contribution to per capita carbon emissions is less than half of the global average,” he said at the two-day event being attended by environmental experts, Supreme Court judges, legal experts and senior government officials.

Modi said developed nations have six times more per capita carbon emissions compared to India and New Delhi strongly presents this fact on global platforms. “And I would say to every Indian: You too say this forcefully,” he said.

The prime minister said India is working with the rest of the world and is setting new standards for environmental protection. He asserted that “our development is both speedy, as well as sustainable”.

The prime minister said that India is focusing on renewable energy and is the only nation in G20 that has already fulfilled its

Paris (COP 21) commitments, well before its timeline.

“This is the power of New India. Non-fossil fuels, solar energy capacity, stoppage on carbon emissions... India’s performance on all such metrics is being discussed across the world,” he said.