Addressing the UN summit on climate in New York today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that there is no time left for talks on the subject, and the world needs to start working on protecting the environment.
Noting that this is his first address at the UN after receiving the Champion of the Earth award last year, Modi expressed happiness that his first meeting during his New York visit is on climate. He said that lots of efforts are being undertaken on the subject climate, but the world has to acknowledge that enough is not being done to tackle this serious issue. “Today a comprehensive approach is required, which includes education, values, lifestyle and development philosophy. A worldwide public movement on behavioural change is the need of the day today”, PM Modi said.
He said, “Respect of nature, and conservation of the natural resource is the part of our tradition and our current efforts. Need, not greed, has been our guiding principle. Because of that, today India has come here not only to talk, but with a practical thought and roadmap”. PM Modi added, “We believe that, an ounce of practice is worth more than a ton of preaching”.
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He said that India is increasing the share of non-fossil fuel in the fuel mix. He also informed that by 2022, India will increase the capacity of renewable energy to 175 Gigawatt, and is committed to further enhance it to 450 Gigawatt. He also talked about encouraging e-mobility in the transportation sector, and mixing biofuel in petrol and diesel.
Further talking about India’s efforts to reduce pollution, PM Modi said that clean cooking gas connections have been provided to 150 million families. “We have started ‘Jal Jeevan’ mission for water resource development, water conservation, and rainwater harvesting,” he added.
Prime Minister Modi said that almost 80 countries have joined India’s initiative of International Solar Alliance. He informed that India and Sweden, along with other partners, is going to launch the Leadership Group of the Industry Transition Track. This initiative will play a vital role in creating low-carbon pathways for the industries in collaboration of governments and the private sector, he said.
Modi also informed the UN summit India is launching a Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, in order to make infrastructure disaster resilient. He invited the member states to join this initiative.
The coalition aims to work towards a common goal of having infrastructure that is resilient to climate and disaster. For the coalition, India is working with countries like the UK and small island states like Fiji and Maldives who face problems of climatic nature.
“On this year’s India’s Independence Day, we called for a mass movement to have freedom from single-use plastic. I hope that this will raise awareness against the usage of single-use plastic, at a global level,” PM Modi said.
The prime minister also informed that the solar panels installed by India on the conference hall of the UN headquarters will be inaugurated tomorrow.
“The Time for talking is over, the world needs to act now” he said while concluding his speech.
PM Narendra Modi is visiting the USA to attend the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and he will address the UNGA on 27th September. Yesterday he attended the ‘Howdy Modi’ event at Houston in Texas, where he was joined by US President Donald Trump.
