Asserting that India's dedication to climate commitments is evident from its performance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hoped that rich countries of G-7 will support India's efforts in combating climate change and invited them to tap the huge market for clean energy technologies emerging in the country.
In his remarks at the session on 'Investing in a better Future: Climate, Energy, Health' at the G7 Summit, Modi highlighted India's track record and said it has achieved the target of 40 per cent energy-capacity from non-fossil sources nine years before time.
"The target of 10 per cent ethanol-blending in petrol has been achieved 5 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," he said.
"When a large country like India shows such ambition, other developing countries also get inspiration. We hope that the rich countries of G-7 will support India's efforts.
Today, a huge market for clean energy technologies is emerging in India," the prime minister said.
G-7 countries can invest in research, innovation, and manufacturing in this field, he added.
The scale that India can provide for every new technology can make that technology affordable for the whole world, he asserted.
The core theories of the circular economy have been an integral part of Indian culture and lifestyle, Modi said.
"I 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," he said.
"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.
Modi, who is in Germany on a two-day visit from Sunday for the summit of the G7, was received by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz upon his arrival at Schloss Elmau, the picturesque venue of the summit in southern Germany.
In his remarks at the session, Modi said unfortunately, it is believed that there is a fundamental collision between the developmental goals of the world and environmental protection.
There is also another misconception that poor countries and poor people cause more damage to the environment, he said, adding that 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 the 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," Modi asserted.
Noting that 17 per cent of the world’s population resides in India, Modi said the country's contribution to global carbon emissions is only 5 per cent.
"The main reason behind this is our lifestyle, which is based on the theory of coexistence with nature," he said.