PM Modi pledges India will join Paris climate change deal this year

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged on Thursday to formally join the Paris climate change agreement this year, a potentially major step toward the pact entering into force.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged on Thursday to formally join the Paris climate change agreement this year, a potentially major step toward the pact entering into force.

US President Barack Obama (right) meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Vientiane.(AFP Photo)

After a meeting with US President Barack Obama, a champion of the deal, in Vientiane, the White House said the two leaders had made a joint commitment “to join the Paris Agreement this year”.

While in China earlier this week, the US already took that step.

Flanked by president Xi Jinping at a joint adoption ceremony in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Obama said climate change would “define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other challenge”.

The 180-nation deal sets ambitious goals for capping global warming and funnelling trillions of dollars to poor countries facing climate catastrophe.

It aims to limit global temperature increases to two degrees centigrade, and will be triggered after it is ratified by at least 55 countries, accounting for 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

India had been a reluctant adherent to the agreement, concerned that it would curb efforts to bring millions of Indians out of poverty.