India is poised to become a climate leader, but is it up to the task?

“The entire world is watching us,” said India’s prime minister Narendra Modi in a speech at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai late last year. “Mother Earth is looking toward us to protect her future. We have to succeed.” This call for climate action was meant to be a global one, but it could have applied to India alone, as the world’s most populous country increasingly sets the course for our climate future.

India is now the world’s third largest annual emitter…