Narendra Modi, India’s leader, rebukes developed countries: ‘A small section of humanity has indiscriminately exploited nature.’

NY TIMES

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, pledged to redouble efforts to shift the world’s most populous country away from fossil fuels and accelerate the development of renewable energy.

“The entire world is watching us,” he said at the United Nations climate conference in Dubai. “Mother Earth is looking toward us to protect her future. We have to succeed.”

India has rapidly built out wind and solar power in recent years. At the same time, India is still building new coal plants at a rapid clip and derives the vast majority of its power from fossil fuels. In 2021, India’s subsidies for fossil fuels were nine times the size of clean energy subsidies.

Mr. Modi noted the urgency of acting to reduce global warming, and also cast blame on the developed nations, primarily the United States and European countries, that have produced the most emissions in historical term.

“We do not have much times to correct the mistakes of the last century,” he said. “Over the past century, a small section of humanity has indiscriminately exploited nature. However, entire humanity is paying the price for this, especially people living in the global south.”

Climate change is already unleashing devastating impacts on India and its neighbor, Pakistan. Heat waves have scorched both countries in recent years, and floods have left large swaths of both countries underwater. Recent research indicated that climate change could cause India to rapidly deplete its groundwater.

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