Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 2, 2017. (TASS News Agency Pool Photo via AP)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday chose to steer clear from taking sides on US’ decision to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate deal. When asked by mediapersons at the St Petersburg International Economic Forim (SPIEF) about India’s opinion on US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the climate pact, PM Modi said, “It is not a question of which way I go. I will go with the future generations.” Russian President Vladimir Putin was also present in the forum with the Prime Minister.
PM Modi further stated that India remains committed to the protection of climate, irrespective of the Paris agreement. His comments came a day after the United States announced its withdrawal from the historic Paris climate pact. At the media briefing, PM Modi said India has traditionally been respecting nature and refrained from exploiting it. “Paris or no Paris, our commitment to preserving the climate is for the sake of future generations,” he said. He also emphasised that it was the responsibility of everyone to leave a climate for the future generation wherein they can breathe clean air and have healthy life.
Read: How Donald Trump’s withdrawal from Paris Agreement affects climate change goals — especially India’s
India has so far not offered its standpoint on the US’ decision to pull out of the climate treaty.
Withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate accord, US President Donald Trump had said the “draconian” deal unfairly punished America while benefited countries such as India and China. Trump’s comments elicited strong condemnation from leaders and environmentalists from across the world. “India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid from developed countries. There are many other examples. But the bottom line is that the Paris accord is very unfair, at the highest level, to the United States,” Trump had said.
Also Read: Trump dismays, angers allies by abandoning global climate pact
As per the Paris agreement, the US and other countries are required to keep rising global temperatures “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and “endeavour to limit” them to 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to environmentalists, this was not the first time that the US pulled out of an international climate agreement. Earlier, it had withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol, saying emerging economies did not have quantified emission targets.
With inputs from Agencies
