New Delhi [India], April 8 (ANI): The meetings held between the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry with the Indian side were "very productive", and the US diplomat appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision and leadership in climate action, said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Thursday.

Addressing a press briefing here, Bagchi said that, "Meetings with the Special envoy were very productive. Both sides discussed the global challenge of climate change, in the context of several multilateral events later this year leading up to the COP-26 summit in Glasglow.""Special envoy Kerry appreciated PM's vision and global leadership in climate action and especially our target of 450 Gigawatts of renewable energy by the year 2030. They discussed the need for supporting climate action by all countries in line with their respective national circumstances," the MEA spokesperson added.

He further said that Prime Minister Modi and special envoy Kerry agreed to collaborate on the 2030 agenda with a focus on clean and green energy through enhancing the availability of climate finance, building resilient infrastructure, energy storage and green hydrogen.

"The Indian side briefed him about the wide-ranging efforts to meet commitments under the Paris agreement and our efforts to reduce emissions and India's lead in multilateral initiatives such as the international solar alliance and the coalition of disaster-resilient infrastructure," Bagchi said.

Kerry was on a four-day visit to India. His visit focused on consultations on increasing climate ambitions ahead of US President Joe Biden's Leaders Summit on Climate.

Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, for a virtual leaders' summit on climate scheduled later this month. (ANI)