India offers to host 2028 climate meet
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 1 offered to host the UN climate summit in the country in 2028, while urging world leaders to boost action to rein in planet-warming emissions that he said requires a unified global response.
“Today, India has presented an excellent example of the balance between ecology and economy before the world,” Modi said at a high-level segment for heads of states and governments during the UN climate conference in Dubai. “India is committed to the UN Framework for Climate Change and that is why I propose from this stage that COP33 summit in 2028 be hosted in India.”
Modi made a strong pitch to global leaders for higher climate action, pointing out that India is on track to meet its commitments towards the 2021 Paris pact and would likely exceed them by a wide margin. Although India is home to 17 percent of the world’s population, its contribution to global carbon emissions is less than 4 percent, Modi said at the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the UNFCCC.
“India is one of those few economies of the world that is on the path to meet NDC targets,” he said, referring to the nationally determined commitments mandated by the 2015 Paris Agreement that aims to keep global temperature rise to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial times and make efforts to keep it within 1.5 degrees.