Energy requirements of people of India to double in next 20 years: PM

• 'Successful climate actions also need adequate financing'
• 'India has walked the talk on climate commitments'
• 'Equitable energy access to the poor has been a cornerstone of our environmental policy'

New Delhi: Energy requirements of the people of India are expected to double in the next 20 years, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday while delivering the inaugural address at the 21st World Sustainable Development Summit 2022 (WSDS-22). "Denying this energy would be denying life itself to millions. Successful climate actions also need adequate financing. For this, developed countries need to fulfill their commitments on finance and technology transfer," said the PM.

India has walked the talk on climate commitments: PM

Making a veiled reference to the developed nations' inability to meet their climate commitments, Modi said, it is not the planet that is fragile but the commitments to the planet, to nature, that have been fragile. He pointed out that very little has been done despite a lot of talk over the last 50 years, since the 1972 Stockholm Conference. But India has walked the talk, the Prime Minister said. "Equitable energy access to the poor has been a cornerstone of our environmental policy," he said. Steps like providing access to clean cooking fuel to 90 million households under Ujjwala Yojana and renewable energy to farmers under the PM-KUSUM scheme, where farmers are being encouraged to set up solar panels, use it and sell surplus power to the grid, will promote sustainability and equity, said the PM.

Modi added that India believes in fulfilling commitments under the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "We firmly believe in fulfilling all our commitments made under the UNFCCC. We have also raised our ambitions during CoP-26 at Glasgow," Modi said.

Sustainability requires co-ordinated global action: PM

The Prime Minister emphasised that sustainability requires co-ordinated action for common global goals. "Our efforts have recognised this inter-dependence. Through the International Solar Alliance (ISA), our aim is 'One Sun, One World, One Grid.' We must work towards ensuring availability of clean energy from a world-wide grid everywhere at all times. This is the 'whole of the world'' approach that India's values stand for," he said.

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