India's green shoots for the planet

Its Panchamrita pledge at Glasgow burnishes its climate credentials, but a perilous future awaits the world

Before assessing the significance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five-point Panchamrita pledge at Glasgow, some key elements in the current discourse on climate change should be clarified. Countries are being asked to sign on to a net zero emissions target by 2050. The term “net zero emissions” is a balance sheet concept. Global emissions need not fall to zero by 2050. They could conceivably keep rising as long as enough negative emissions in the shape of “carbon sinks” are somehow rolled out to exactly balance the plus side of the balance sheet. Nature provides carbon sinks through forests and the