This was confirmed by a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London on Thursday. “India plays an important role here and the prime minister has had a number of talks with Modi about the importance of climate change, so we look forward to continuing the discussion with him,” it said.
As the second most populous country in the world, India emits the third most emissions – after the USA and China. The country’s environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, recently emphasized that COP26 should focus on financing and, for example, technology transfer from industrialized countries to developing countries. Developing countries like India are very vulnerable to climate change and depend on support from industrialized countries to implement the Paris Climate Agreement.
India wants to significantly increase its electricity volume in the next few years, even as not all people in the country have access to electricity yet. Renewable energies should become more and more important. However, the country is mainly dependent on coal and wants to expand its coal capacities in the future. The government argues that this is necessary for the country to grow. In addition, the per capita emissions in India and other poorer countries are significantly lower than those of richer countries, which in the past have relied heavily on dirty energy in order to grow themselves.