Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes in climate change but is not going to give in to pressure to change the way his country emits greenhouse gases.
On Monday, he said that as a counter to drastically changing the everyday practices regarding CO2 emissions, India promises to "use more clean energy and traditional methods to lead the fight against climate change," Reuters reported.
"The world guides us on climate change and we follow them? The world sets the parameters and we follow them? It is not like that," Modi said. "We can lead the world."
India is the third worst emitter of greenhouse gases behind only China and the United States, respectively. India has come under pressure of late because both China and the U.S. took a big leap toward fixing their issues by vowing to cut emissions last year, which was one of the worst for emitting CO2 emissions for both nations.
Later this year the United Nations will have a meeting and talk about preventing global warming and rising temperature. India is going to be a big part of those talks, as it will still be under pressure to do more than just makes promises to help the cause.
For instance, Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has allowed India's coal mining industry to be controlled by the highest bidder to "meet domestic demand," according to Breitbart. Also, Modi and other leaders of India view groups that are in favor of cutting greenhouse gases as a detriment to the nation's economy.
