India Already Exceeding Key Climate Targets, Can Grow Faster Using Clean Energy: UN Climate Chief

2025-02-19 06:20:29

(MENAFN- Live Mint) New Delhi, Feb 19 (PTI) India is already meeting and exceeding key climate targets and has a real opportunity to grow even faster, using clean energy and industry, UN climate change chief Simon Stiell has said.

In an email interview with PTI, Stiell emphasised that India's unique geography and huge population means huge numbers of people are vulnerable to climate impacts. And therefore, he said, the need to invest in ensuring people, communities, infrastructure and businesses are resilient is clear.

"India is already meeting and exceeding key targets. For example, by installing 100 GW (gigawatt) of solar in record time or providing electricity in every village.

"I see a real opportunity for India to grow even faster, using clean energy and industry, which will be a huge benefit to India's economic prosperity, with millions more jobs, better health outcomes, more affordable and secure energy accessible to all, and faster-rising living standards for the Indian people," the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said.

He said from melting glaciers in the north, to stronger storms and cyclones, and food insecurity, India's unique geography and huge population means huge numbers of people are vulnerable to climate impacts.

"And the need to invest in ensuring people, communities, infrastructure and businesses are resilient is clear. But, that population and geographic diversity is also what makes India so strong. This is a growing population being educated with the skills needed to prosper in the clean and climate-resilient industries of this and future decades," he told PTI.

Stiell, who was in India last week, called the country a "solar superpower" and urged it to develop an ambitious climate plan covering its entire economy saying an even stronger embrace of the global clean energy boom will supercharge its economic rise.

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