New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted India’s dedication to climate commitments at the G 7 summit in Germany.

Speaking at the session on ‘Investing in a better future: Climate, Energy, Health’, Mr Modi said that India’s dedication to its climate commitments is evident from its 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. When a large country like India shows such ambition, other developing countries also get inspiration.’’

The Prime Minister said that 17% of the world’s population lives in India but India’s 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 drew the attention of G 7 leaders and other dignitaries to the emergence of a huge market for clean energy technologies in India. While expressing the hope that the rich countries of G-7 will support India's efforts, Mr Modi said,  “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.’’

The Prime Minister said that India has seen adverse times but has never let its commitment to the environment get diluted even a single bit. “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  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.’’

The Prime Minister said that he believes 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. By taking inspiration from this principle, we 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.’’

Mr Modi said that he called for a movement called LIFE – Lifestyle for Environment – in Glasgow last year. “This year on World Environment Day, 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 said that during the pandemic, India found many creative ways to use digital technology in the health sector. G7 countries can help India take these innovations to other developing countries.

Talking of his passion of Yoga fitness, the Prime Minister, said, “ We all celebrated the International Day of Yoga. In times of COVID crisis, yoga has become a great tool for preventive health for people all over the world. This helped many people to maintain their physical and mental health.’’

Speaking about the merits of holistic health, Mr Modi said, “Apart from yoga, 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.''