India targets 2070 for net-zero emissions; China makes no new

LONDON — Some of the world’s largest polluters were under the spotlight at the COP26 summit Monday, as countries outlined their commitments on climate change.

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, a date two decades beyond the target set by COP26 organizers and host Boris Johnson, the U.K.’s prime minister.

Modi said the country had five climate-related pledges, including meeting 50% of its energy needs by renewable means by 2030.

“By 2070, India will achieve the target of net zero emissions,” he added, during a speech delivered Monday. The country is the world’s third-largest carbon emitter.

India represents 17% of the world’s population and 5% of the carbon emissions, Modi said, adding that it had “delivered both in letter and in spirit on its Paris commitments,” referring to the 2015 Paris Agreement where nations made the 1.5 degrees Celsius pledge. But to do so, the world needs to almost halve greenhouse gas emissions in the next eight years and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

The COP26 summit, delayed a year by the coronavirus pandemic, comes six years after the landmark Paris accord was signed by nearly 200 countries to limit rising global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to “pursue efforts” to cap heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The latter threshold is a crucial global target because beyond this level, so-called tipping points become more likely. Tipping points refer to an irreversible change in the climate system, locking in further global heating.

Modi also said India would reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45%.

Meanwhile, China’s president, Xi Jinping, called for countries to take “stronger actions” on climate change in a written statement released Monday during the summit.

“I hope all parties will take stronger actions to jointly tackle the climate challenge and protect the planet, the shared home for us all,” he said, according to China’s state media agency Xinhua, which published the statement.

Xi, who is not attending COP26 in person, also called for developed countries to help developing nations do more. Onlookers noted that the statement failed to make any new commitments on climate change. China’s target for net zero is also well beyond the 2050 target.

The Chinese leader’s statement follows strong criticism from U.S. President Joe Biden at the G-20 meeting of the world’s largest economies on the weekend. At a news conference, Biden blasted China and Russia, saying the countries “basically didn’t show up in terms of any commitments to deal with climate change.” Along with Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin is not going to COP26 in person.

Xi’s statement also…