Indeed, it’s possible, based on Modi’s other promises, that the country’s emissions have already peaked, or come close to it. That view fails to recognize how far India has moved to come to this point – and how far it could still go. After a lackluster communique on climate from the Group of 20 meeting in Rome, the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow might appear to have already failed. Now the third-ranked polluter is out with a promise that’s 20 years too late. The second-largest, the US, is unlikely to be able to pass legislation through Congress sufficient to fortify President Joe Biden’s 2050 target against unpicking by future administrations or the courts.

India’s path to zero is just beginning For a world that needs its carbon emissions to diminish to nothing within the next 30 years, the announcement by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi of a 2070 net zero target might sound profoundly disappointing.īalineni The world’s biggest emitter, China, isn’t promising zero before 2060. How India’s 2070 net zero goal is a far bigger deal than it sounds If investment dollars flow from rich countries into India’s booming low-emissions sector, industries that seem as hard to decarbonize now as the power sector seemed in 2015 will be the next to move.

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