Business
India can show the way to combat global warming: Modi
Calling for an energy revolution in the country, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi Sunday said India had the strength and resources to lead the
world's fight against global warming.
"If there is one country to
show the world the way to combat global warming it is India," Modi
said inaugurating the first three-day Renewable Energy Global Investors
Meet and Expo (Re-Invest) here.
"The way for humankind out of
disaster, only India can show the way because we love nature, we
worship our rivers as mother," he added.
Speaking of the
importance of solar energy in the Indian consciousness, Modi referred
to increasing the scope of renewable sources in the current context.
"In
our mythology we have imagined the sun god Surya riding on seven
horses. In today's age the first four of the seven horses would
respectively be thermal (coal), gas, hydro and nuclear energy.
"We need to utilise more the three other horses of solar, wind and biomass."
Modi
said the over 50 countries identified to be blessed with good solar
radiation were trying to work together on research and development in
solar energy and on finding ways to make it economically viable.
The
UN has declared 2014-24 as the Decade of Sustainable Energy. Its
Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative signed a memorandum of
understanding with the Gujarat government last month to support the UN
objective to make sustainable energy accessible for all.
Currently,
15 percent of the global population (about a billion people), including
250 million in India have no access to electricity and 2.6 billion lack
modern cooking facilities. They depend on polluting solid fuels.
The
India-US nuclear agreement concluded during President Barrack Obama's
visit here has eased the way for foreign firms to develop nuclear energy
in India.
The government has revised upwards the target of solar power generation from 20,000 MW by 2022 to 100,000 MW by 2020.