PM Modi Opens NGT Global Conference on Climate, Launches Tribunal App

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the National Green Tribunal's two-day international conference on 'The Future of Environment and Climate Dynamics' in New Delhi, and launched the tribunal's mobile application during the opening session.

The inaugural session was attended by Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant, Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav and NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister spoke of India's long-standing cultural connection with nature and said ancient wisdom is informing contemporary climate solutions and collective global action. He praised the tribunal for advancing its mandate and congratulated the organisers.

Chief Justice Surya Kant traced the evolution of Indian environmental jurisprudence, noting that the Supreme Court has over the decades treated the right to a pollution-free environment as a fundamental right and developed the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle, absolute liability and the public trust doctrine. He said climate-related rights have acquired sharper constitutional focus, since the effects of climate change can touch fundamental rights linked to equality, livelihood and health, and called for pooled judicial wisdom, scientific knowledge and international cooperation.

Union Minister Bhupender Yadav said non-fossil sources now make up 54.18 per cent of India's installed electricity capacity, exceeding the 2030 target of 50 per cent nine years early. India, he added, ranks third globally in installed renewable energy capacity and is the world's second-largest solar growth market, which he said shows economic growth and climate action can proceed together.

He also cited gains in wildlife and ecosystem conservation, including the cheetah reintroduction programme and a conservation breeding programme for the Great Indian Bustard, as well as the restoration of woodlands, grasslands and wetlands. Forest and tree cover has reached 8.27 lakh square kilometres, and the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025 of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization places India third globally in annual net forest-area gain, he said. Ahead of UNFCCC COP31 in Antalya, he said India will keep pressing for climate action centred on equity, implementation and the needs of vulnerable countries.

Yadav argued that forums assembling judges, policymakers, scientists and practitioners matter because environmental challenges cross borders, and framed the global choice as one between sustainable development and development that cannot be sustained. India's approach, he said, rests on a civilisational ethos that treats the Earth as a shared inheritance and a sacred trust.

Attorney General R. Venkataramani said no country can tackle the environmental challenge alone and that global efforts must move past declarations to practical, enforceable mechanisms. Recalling the Prime Minister's call that global action must match global ambitions, he said India can lead by example through the balancing path it has chosen, and advocated a new global environmental regulatory framework and stronger international institutions that also weigh energy and food security, housing, health, water, ecosystems and economic opportunity.

NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, welcoming the delegates, described India's environmental governance as comprehensive and said its initiatives reflect a commitment to global cooperation and a vision of a cleaner, greener and more resilient country. Environmental protection, he said, is not the task of any single institution or sector but a shared national and global responsibility, with the heaviest costs of degradation often borne by those least responsible for it.

The conference brings together jurists, academicians, policymakers, scientists and environmental experts from 17 countries, along with the United Nations Environment Programme and the Asian Development Bank. It is structured around four technical sessions. The first, on 'Climate Justice, Equity and Inclusion: From Principles to Action', examined equity and inclusion, environmental and social safeguards, and the linked impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. The second, on 'The Future of Environmental Law and Governance', took up institutional strengthening and enforcement, sustainable and liveable cities, the energy transition, green infrastructure and green finance.

The meeting aims to reinforce environmental law and institutions, advance climate justice and inter-generational equity, promote resilient cities, support a just energy transition and encourage cooperation on transboundary environmental problems. It also seeks to share research, best practices and innovative solutions, build partnerships and produce actionable recommendations and a roadmap for future collaboration.