At a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty, energy insecurity and economic fragmentation, the world faces a defining choice — retreat into narrow national approaches or strengthen partnerships that deliver growth, resilience and sustainability together.
As the United Nations marks its 80th anniversary, the value of international cooperation and multilateralism has become even more evident. At the same time, the need to reform global governance institutions to reflect contemporary realities has become impossible to ignore.
A rules-based international order anchored in international law and sovereign equality has helped create decades of relative stability and development. Yet today’s challenges of climate change, industrial transformation, supply-chain disruptions and energy transition require a renewed spirit of practical and inclusive cooperation.
Few challenges are as universal or consequential as climate change. It affects societies and economies across all regions, whether in India, Sweden or elsewhere. But climate action cannot be divorced from development aspirations. Billions of people continue to seek better living standards, jobs, modern infrastructure and energy access. Delivering growth and opportunity while advancing sustainability is therefore not a contradiction, it is the defining economic and political task of our times.
India has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies while pursuing one of the world’s largest renewable energy transitions. The approach is guided by a clear objective: To bridge climate ambition with development realities.
As a major growth engine, and a responsible voice of the Global South, India’s two defining milestones for the near future are to achieve ‘developed country’ status by 2047 and Net Zero emissions by 2070. These domestic goals are deeply intertwined.
Thanks to global cooperation, including the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) and other global platforms that India has formed with the United Nations and international partners — including the International Solar Alliance, the Global Biofuels Alliance and Mission LiFE, India is a responsible voice of the Global South.
Simultaneously, Sweden leads the way in European climate action. Thanks to bold decisions taken decades ago, the electric grid is 98 per cent fossil-free. The contribution of the private sector in innovation and exports of climate-friendly solutions cannot be overstated. All in all, emissions have decreased by more than a third since 1990 — and during this time, the size of Sweden’s economy has almost doubled.
The approaches of India and Sweden reflect a broader belief that climate action can create jobs, expand opportunity, strengthen energy security and improve lives. The aim is not only to decarbonise domestic development pathways, but to help build partnerships that make clean industrialisation at scale possible.
It is in this spirit that India and Sweden met in Gothenburg on May 17. Our partnership reflects a shared conviction that industrial transformation can be driven through collaboration between governments, industry, innovators and financial institutions.
The green transition is not only an environmental imperative, it is also central to competitiveness, economic resilience and long-term growth.
India and Sweden have demonstrated the value of such cooperation through the LeadIT, launched jointly by both countries in 2019 with the support of the United Nations. LeadIT has helped place industrial decarbonisation and hard-to-abate sectors at the centre of the global climate discussion. More importantly, it has shown that developed and developing economies can co-create solutions through trust, innovation and shared responsibility.
Today, however, the scale and urgency of the challenge demand that we move further and faster.
The next phase of LeadIT should move from words to action, meaning implementation at scale. It has proved to be a useful platform for action by accelerating technology partnerships, enabling industrial pilot projects, mobilizing sustainable finance, strengthening resilient clean-energy supply chains and building globally competitive low-carbon industries.
The next phase should aim to support workforce transitions, skills development and financial architecture that reduce risk and lower the cost of capital for industrial transformation.
Not every country needs to invent every solution, but every country should have the opportunity to adapt, deploy and scale technologies suited to its developmental circumstances and priorities. Emissions do not recognise borders, and neither can the solutions.
We, therefore, call for a broadening and deepening of this coalition through 2030. We invite more countries, including Nordic partners with strong innovation ecosystems and clean technology leadership, to join and actively contribute to this effort. The industrial transition can succeed only if it can deliver tangible economic value and social progress.
Solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear energy, storage technologies and low-carbon industrial solutions will all have important roles to play depending on national circumstances and priorities.
No country can secure every critical technology, mineral or industrial input alone. Nor can any nation address climate change in isolation. Emissions do not recognise borders – which is why solutions must be international.
The opportunity before us extends far beyond climate policy. It is about shaping a new era of industrial cooperation.
India and Sweden remain committed. At a moment of global uncertainty, our message is clear: Cooperation, rather than fragmentation, will define the pathway to shared prosperity and a sustainable future.
(By Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister of Sweden)
