this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
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This is a fairly one sided opinion piece which does not accurately reflect India's policy towards fossil fuels.
I follow Indian politics fairly closely and I was suprised to see the assertion that Modi has denied climate change for years especially since India has been fairly aggressive at expanding renewable usage since it is a matter of energy independence for them. Unlike Saudi Arabia, India imports essentially all of its oil and has very little to none domestically.
The often referred to quote from the speech he gave was "Climate has not changed. We have changed. Our habits have changed." In the rest of the speech he goes on to explain further that the environment isn't changing on its own; human behavior, lifestyle shifts, and a lack of harmony with nature are driving environmental destruction. The argument he was making recognized anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change; it wasn't a denial of it.
From 2025 to 2026 India added 55+ GW of non-fossil fuel capacity and is currently the world's third largest market for installed renewable energy.
Modi was vocal about combatting climate change at COP26, committing India to a "Net Zero" emissions target by 2070 and pledged that India would source 50% of its energy capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.
India also recently had its fast breeder Thorium reactor reach criticality and is planning to expand capacity to meet 15% of domestic energy demand by 2047.
There's a lot of reasons not to like Modi but this is a misrepresentation of his and India's current stance on climate change.
Yes, India still burns coal. No country in history has developed without coal. It is cheap, abundant and accessible domestically. Renewables are still too inefficient and pricey to meet the needs of a rapidly developing nation robustly. Oil is a foreign import for India, which comes with its own unique costs and geopolitical complexity. Energy has been crucial to India pulling 30 million people out of poverty domestically per year and abandoning coal at this stage would likely mean decreasing that number.
Its a complicated situation, but what is clear is India recognizes climate change and has expressed a clear intention to expand renewable utilization over the next several decades. For India it's not only a matter of domestic climate impact but decreasing reliance on global oil markets.
This should be a top-level comment so that others have a chance to educate themselves and form their opinions better.
There is lot to criticise about Modi like rising unemployment, systemic dismembering of journalism, whataboutism, and so much more!
But twisting the words of his speech (that is more than a decade old now) is just pathetic and immediately makes anyone pedalling that narrative foolish. It is even worse when a journalist does it, since fact checking is paramount.