Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Barack Obama.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India's commitment to climate change is second to none and both he and US President Barack Obama has set "ambitious national agendas" to meet its goals.
In a joint address to the media after his bilateral discussions with President Obama, PM Modi said India looks forward to a "comprehensive and concrete outcome in Paris," where the global climate pact will be made in December.
The stress, he said, will be on combating climate change through an agenda that "focuses on access to finance and technology for the developing world".
"President (Obama) and I share an uncompromising commitment on climate change, without affecting our ability to meet the development aspirations of humanity," he said.
In the UN climate package passed in Doha in 2012, a commitment was made to scale up funding to help developing countries deal with global warming and convert to planet-friendlier energy sources by 2020.
In his address to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, PM Modi had signalled that India will not give in to pressure at the Paris meet, evoking the idea of "common but differentiated responsibilities". In that context, he had said the focus on environment needs a recalibration -- from climate change to climate justice.
Today, he said India's national agenda to counter climate change not just involves generating renewable energy, but also a "transition to a more sustainable energy mix".
The US-India partnership in the energy sector "focuses on clean and renewable energy and energy efficiency," the Prime Minister said, thanking Mr Obama for a "positive response" to his call for a global public partnership to develop clean energy sources.
But the Prime Minister also underscored that it was "equally important" to develop mechanisms that ensured that clean energy becomes affordable and accessible for those who need it the most.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said PM Modi has said India will declare the measures it intends to take on climate change after 2020 -- known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions -- on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.