The environmental crisis that manifests as climate change makes people realise that they have a common predicament, he said, adding that “it is a collective crisis but, if imaginatively handled, offers a collective opportunity to reinforce human solidarity in the face of natural forces”.

“So, we take our responsibility seriously,” he told the summit being attended by global leaders, including Maldives president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Commenting on Delhi’s public transport system, Singh pointed out that it needs immediate attention and the government has asked the Planning Commission to come up with a comprehensive policy in this regard.

Emphasising the need to create knowledge partnerships across countries to collaborate on climate change action, he said India has decided to link all academic institutions that work on climate change on a national knowledge net and identify key knowledge institutions that become centres of excellence in climate change related research.

The Prime Minister said that at the international level, India would continue to engage with all nations to strengthen global initiatives in the area of climate change. “India is prepared to commit that our per capita carbon emissions will never exceed the average per capital emissions of developed industrial economies,” he said.