INDIA’s initiative to step forward and stand up to get counted in the global search for solution to climate crisis is certainly laudable by any and every standard. Participating in the United Nations Climate Conference -- COP28 -- in Dubai, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi demonstrated Indian resolve to stay ahead in the global effort to save climate from a total collapse. He almost took the reins of global leadership in his hands by proposing a ‘Green Credit Initiative’ that will focus on achieving a healthy carbon foot-print. And he insisted that any action in that direction must be “pro-planet, proactive, and positive”. Thus, India gave to the world not just a set of correct words to describe the nature of international effort to save climate from deterioration but also a core philosophy for climate conservation. This is certainly a leadership act that the world will certainly recognise.

 

Factually speaking, the Prime Minister is continuing with the leadership role India got saddled with in the area of climate conservation. For, it was India that proposed the International Solar Alliance to step up global leaning on solar power which is a renewable source of energy. When India proposed such an alliance, the world jumped at it, in the process giving India a leadership position in the global effort to conserve climate. This is certainly not a mean achievement. For, it denotes a clear international recognition of the efforts India has been putting in the climate conservation area. Domestically, the Indian efforts are focused critically on regulating and rationalising the carbon foot-print, and increasing a tilt towards bio-fuels and green hydrogen, for example. India set for itself major climate goals as part of its ongoing commitment to sustainable development.

 

Such an international acclaim does not come only by wishing. In practical terms, India has shown to the world what it is capable of doing, and what it has actually achieved. India’s achievements in this sector is truly laudable in the sense it has beaten the otherwise tough time-table for the world to manage. While the world still struggled with the bottom-lines in almost every area related to climate challenge, India just forged ahead with its pre-specified climate goals and achieved those much ahead of its own time-deadlines.This was possible because the Government was engaged in that activity most solicitously. This internal action via different avenues brought for the country a natural leadership position in the global climate conservation zone. At the Dubai meet, too, Mr. Narendra Modi took the first step to propose the Green Credit Initiative -- and the world just watched in amazement India’s energy and enthusiasm about reaching the global climate goals.

 

Against the dismal record of most other countries in this regard, the Indian willingness to step forward and get counted is truly laudable. Regulating the international carbon foot-print to reduce the strain on common resources on the plant is the crux of the thought-process of the global community. Mr. Narendra Modi could propose the Green Credit Initiative at the Dubai meet only because such a goal had been agreed upon -- through the Track-II diplomacy ahead of the meet that saw a congregation of world leaders with whom Mr. Modi interacted formally and non-formally. All that ground-work has obviously gone into the proposed Green Credit Initiative.