, Columnist
Modi’s Climate Ambitions for India Are Slipping
The nation’s carbon footprint has overtaken the European Union to be the biggest in the world after China and the US.
Too hot to handle.
Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
India announced its arrival this year as the world’s biggest country by population with a promise to do things differently from the nations that preceded it in global leadership.
In taking this year's presidency of the Group of 20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose as his theme a term from Sanskrit scripture, “vasudhaiva kutumbakam,” emphasizing sustainability and global unity. He named climate change, alongside terrorism and pandemics, as one of the greatest challenges the world faces. With the G-20 leaders’ summit due to begin in New Delhi Saturday, it’s notable how quiet that green rhetoric has gotten.