India, UK reiterate commitment to climate action ahead of COP26 summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Alok Sharma, President-designate of 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) on Tuesday reiterated their commitment to climate action ahead of the COP26 summit.

During the meeting between the two leaders, Sharma congratulated PM Modi on his ambition to deliver a significant increase in renewable energy, set out at the Climate Ambition Summit the UK co-hosted in December 2020, and for his personal leadership on tackling climate change, according to an official statement by the UK government.

"Alok Sharma and PM Modi met today (on Tuesday) in Delhi to discuss their countries' shared commitment to climate action in the lead up to the COP26 summit in Glasgow this year," it said.

Sharma outlined the UK's net zero commitment and said that, as hosts of COP26, the UK had sent a clear message to the world in setting an ambitious new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

Both leaders agreed that progress on making sure the most vulnerable countries were able to adapt to the impacts of climate change was critical and that to do this governments must meet their climate finance commitments.

They also highlighted the importance of governments, businesses and individuals working to tackle climate change.

After the meeting, PM Modi said in a tweet, "Pleased to meet with COP26 President-designate @AlokSharma_RDG today. We discussed India-UK cooperation on climate change agenda and COP26. My best wishes to UK for successful organisation of the climate summit".

Earlier, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar also met Alok Sharma and discussed important issues, for negotiations to be held in Glasgow later this year.

"I showcased him and told about various initiatives taken by India on renewables, disaster-resilient infrastructure, adaptation, electrical buses, on metro expansion, our reduction of emission intensity and increasing tree cover. It was a very fruitful meeting," said Javadekar.

This is Sharma's first visit to Asia as COP President, where he is expected to welcome India's significant progress on climate action and clean energy transition.

Sharma's visit follows those of the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and International Trade Secretary Elizabeth Truss and paves the way for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's visit later this year, during which climate cooperation will be a focus.