Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended the G20 meeting in Rome and is attending the COP26 in Glasgow, refused to sign the G20 final communiqué with wording that made an assertion that all countries were committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The green governments were thus forced to change the wording to net zero “by or about the middle of the century.”
In his COP26 speech, Modi said that India would reach net zero only in 2070. This is ten years later than China, which was the first major company to reject the 2050 target date, saying 2060 instead.
Modi also insisted that the money the advanced nations give to the developing nations (if it is ever to arrive) must not be used for “mitigation,” to reduce carbon emissions, but for “adaptation,” to counter the harm supposedly caused by global warming. Calling the emphasis on mitigation an “injustice towards the developing countries that are heavily affected,” he proposed instead that the money be used for providing “Clean Tap Water for All” and “Clean Cooking Fuel For All,” and invited all countries to join the “Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.”
