New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised delegates at the COP26 climate summit with a bold pledge: the world’s third-biggest emitter will reach net-zero by 2070.

Modi’s commitment towards climate action with India promising to achieve net zero emissions by 2070 appears to have been taken with global strategic landscape in mind. His speech at the COP26 indicates that India is all for saving the planet without inhibiting India’s economic growth and at the same time monitoring other countries walk the talk on countering climate change.

Modi’s statement takes into account the reality that India has the lowest per capita income in the top twenty grouping with Indonesia, South Africa ahead on multiple figures and China nearly four times ahead.

India stood out among top emitters, including the U.S. and China, that were being closely watched at the conference. President Joe Biden, hamstrung by politics at home, didn’t bring anything substantially new to the table.
Meanwhile China’s Xi Jinping didn’t attend in person and offered no new plans to cut emissions.