Newsmaker: Meet Bhupender Yadav, a climate lawyer in the hot seat

As an MP, Yadav has done important legal work on compensatory afforestation to wetland development and genetically modified crops

On October 28, climate change activists and administrators, especially western ones, rolled their eyes on hearing Indian en­vironment minister Bhupender Yadav (52) declare that setting net zero targets wasn’t a solution and instead rich countries needed to acknowledge their “historic responsibility”. He also assured the interes­ts of developing nations and those vulnerable to climate change would be protected.

With days left for the epic clim­ate change meeting (COP26) at Glasgow, the minister also said India was committed to “being part of the solution” but added that fresh plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions would be anno­unced at an “appropriate time and