Indian PM on climate: would be ‘crime’ to spoil environment

BERLIN – India’s prime minister says it would be a “crime” to spoil the environment for future generations as the world awaits a decision on U.S. climate policy.

President Donald Trump says he will make a long-awaited decision this week on whether the U.S. stands by the 2015 Paris deal that aims to slow down global warming. Other leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers pushed the U.S. at a weekend summit to stay.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, a major emerging economy, didn’t reply directly Tuesday when asked whether it would stick with the accord if Washington leaves.

Modi said after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “We do not have the right to spoil the environment for future generations … that is, morally speaking, a crime on our part.”