Climate change must be fought not in silos but in an integrated, comprehensive and holistic way, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a G20 event and asserted that the entire world can progress faster if there is greater support of technology and finance to developing nations.

Addressing the G20 side event on “Safeguarding the Planet”, PM Modi said India is not only meeting its Paris Agreement targets but also exceeding them. “Inspired by our traditional ethos of living in harmony with the environment, and the commitment of my government, India has adopted low-carbon and climate-resilient development practices,” he said. The entire world can progress faster if there is greater support of technology and finance to the developing world, PM Modi said.

He said that India’s next-generation infrastructure like metro networks and water-ways would also contribute to a cleaner environment. “We will meet our goal of 175 GW of renewable energy well before the target of 2022. Now, we are taking a big step ahead by seeking to achieve 450 GW by 2030”. Though Trump has not yet conceded defeat to Biden in the US presidential elections, the G20 virtual summit chaired by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was perhaps the last multilateral conclave that he could participate before the January 20, 2021 change of guard in the White House.

“For humanity to prosper, every single individual must prosper. Rather than seeing labour as a factor of production alone, the focus must be on the human dignity of every worker,” the prime minister said. Such an approach would be the best guarantee for safeguarding the planet, Modi said.