Besides Modi, there were 60 other world leaders including the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and dozens of multinationals at the climate event

PM Modi in the US: In a big surprise, the US President Donald Trump on Monday dropped in at the morning session of the daylong climate summit ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He was spotted listening with great attention German Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trump was spotted sitting next to his Vice President Mike Pence and the new US ambassador to the UN Kelly Graft for about 10 minutes. He later left to address a meeting related to the persecution of the religious minorities and to talk about his administration’s efforts at religious freedom. Trump also spent over an hour and a half with the Indian Prime Minister at the Howdy Modi even organised in Houston, Texas on Sunday.

Besides Modi, there were 60 other world leaders including the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and dozens of multinationals at the climate event. As has been reported, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been urging the world to end new coal plant construction by 2020, as this would then help in curbing greenhouse gas emissions. With an eye to “reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% over the next decade, Guterres called on the leaders to bring to the climate summit “concrete, realistic plans”. Ahead of the Climate Change session, the Secretary-General had made it clear that he did not want countries which supported the expansion of coal production and they will not be allotted time to speak. Countries like Japan, China and Australia chose to stay away.

In the past the US President Trump has chosen to stay away from any meetings related to the climate change, he has also recently declined to attend the annual G-7 climate sessions in France and did the same last year in Quebec.

Reports suggest that during his presidency he has withdrawn the US from the from the Paris climate agreement, and has also rolled back several regulations including the Clean Power Plan.