PM Modi pledges India targets net zero emissions by 2070

commitments from his country. They comprise a promise for India to get 50% of its energy from renewable resources by 2030, and by the same year to reduce total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes.

While the 2070 net zero target may have disappointed activists and experts in Glasgow, PM Modi seems to have impressed people back home.

India had "clearly put the ball in the court of the developed world" by announcing 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil electricity capacity, half of energy from renewables, a reduction of emissions by one billion tonnes and emissions intensity of the GDP by 45% by 2030, according to Arunabha Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a leading climate think tank.

"This is real climate action. Now India demands $1tn (£722bn) in climate finance as soon as possible and will monitor not just climate action but also climate finance," Dr Ghosh stated.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi used most of his time in front of his fellow world leaders to underline the need for lifestyle changes as the greatest solution to climate change.

But Mr Modi preserved his biggest news to the last minute.

Detailing what he termed were India's "five elixirs" for climate, Mr Modi proclaimed that his country would adopt a net zero emissions target - by 2070.

This is quite a substantial step for the world's third largest emitter, still getting more than 50% of the country's electricity from coal.

It has to be tempered by the fact that the date is far past the mid-century goal for carbon neutrality that scientists say is necessary to avert the most dangerous levels of warming.

But there has been a general welcome for the goal.