PM Modi Surprises Climate Summit With 2070 Net-Zero Vow For India

India stood out among top emitters, including the U.S. and China, that were being closely watched at the conference.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised delegates at the COP26 climate summit with a bold pledge: the world's third-biggest emitter will reach net-zero by 2070.

The announcement injected new life into talks that had been set back by a disappointing outcome from the Group of 20 meeting in Rome this weekend. Though India's goal is two decades behind rich nations such as the U.S. and U.K., it's compatible with what scientists say is needed to avoid catastrophic global warming.

"This was a very significant moment for the summit," said Nicholas Stern, chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. It's a chance for India to show that "it can deliver on both economic development and climate change."

India stood out among top emitters, including the U.S. and China, that were being closely watched at the conference. President Joe Biden, hamstrung by politics at home, didn't bring anything substantially new to the table. Meanwhile China's Xi Jinping didn't attend in person and offered no new plans to cut emissions.