Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP-26 announced that India will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070. India has promised to cut its emissions net zero by 2070. Net zero, or becoming carbon neutral, means not adding to the number of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
India is the world’s fourth biggest emitter of carbon dioxide after China, the US, and the EU. But its vast population means its emissions per capita are much lower than other major world economies.
India emitted 1.9 tonnes of CO2 per head of population in 2019, compared with 15.5 tonnes for the US and 12.5 tonnes for Russia that year. Mr. Modi made the pledge as one of five commitments from his country. They include a promise for India to get 50% of its energy from renewable resources by 2030, and by the same year to reduce total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes.
India had “clearly put the ball in the court of the developed world” by announcing 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil electricity capacity, half of the energy from renewables, a reduction of emissions by one billion tonnes, and emissions intensity of the GDP by 45% by 2030, according to Arunabha Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a leading climate think tank
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