03 June, 2017
"Even before Paris agreement, India has been working to protect the climate", Modi said at the SPIEF on Friday.
While China needs European Union technical know-how to reduce the pollution blighting its cities, the European Union is looking to Beijing to take action against emissions blamed for increased droughts, rising seas and other affects of climate change.
Dozens of cities have said they are committed to the Paris climate accord, with at least 86 mayors signing a statement saying they will adopt and uphold the agreement's goals.
Under former president Barack Obama, the United States had agreed to reduce polluting emissions by more than a quarter below 2005 levels by 2025. The Paris Agreement is an worldwide agreement meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat global climate change.
"In following through on his promise, President Trump is supporting America's uncompromising values, saving coal jobs, and promoting low-priced, reliable electricity for Americans and the rest of the world", he said. But he resigned in February, in the wake of Trump's initial executive order restricting travel from a number of Muslim-majority countries.
His statement about the president's decision read in part, "President Trump can turn his back on the world, but the world cannot ignore the very real threat of climate change".
The Paris agreement commits the United States and other countries to keep rising global temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels and endeavor to limit them to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
THE FACTS: The co-founder of the MIT program on climate change says the administration is citing an outdated report, taken out of context. "There is no backsliding on the Paris Agreement", EU leader Jean-Claude Juncker said.
A group of leaders from US cities, states and corporations are working to negotiate with the United Nations to combat climate change in the United States after the federal government began the process of withdrawing from the Paris agreement.
"Americans will honor and fulfill the Paris Agreement by leading from the bottom up - and there isn't anything Washington can do to stop us".
Scientists have warned failure to curb unsafe climate change will lead to sea level rises, more intense storms and flooding, more extreme droughts, water shortages and heatwaves as well as massive loss of wildlife and reduction in crop yields, potentially sparking conflict and mass migration. "Firstly, I was at Paris and was one of the 500 mayors from across the world saying the water's warm and that we're going to do this", he said.
In 2015, the United States, produced more than double the carbon dioxide emissions of China, and eight times as much as India.
