# COP 26 summit

• India will achieve net zero emissions latest by 2070, Prime minister Narendra Modi said at the COP26 summit in Glasgow on monday.

• India was the only major emitter that had not committed to a timeline to achieve net zero, or a year by which it would ensure its net carbon dioxide emissions would be zero.

• By 2030, India will ensure 50% of its energy will be sourced from renewable sources.

• India also committed to reduce its carbon emissions until 2030 by a billion tonnes.

• India would also install systems to generate 500 gigawatt of renewable energy by 2030, a 50 GW increase from its existing target.

# Firecrackers

• The supreme court on monday said a blanket ban on firecrackers may not be possible, but measures ought to be in place to prevent the use of toxic chemicals in firecrackers.

• Only those firecrackers are banned which are found to be injurious to health and affecting the health of citizens.

• The firecracker industry had moved the top court after the Calcutta high court “prohibited the sale, purchase, use, display or bursting of firecrackers of any type at all during festivals.

# BASIC

• On the opening day of the 26th United nations conference of parties (COP), Environment minister Bhupendra yadav delivered a statement on behalf of the BASIC group of countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China – at the UN climate change conference underway in Glasgow.

• These major developing economies are significant polluters but bear diminished responsibility for the Carbon dioxide that has been pumped into the atmosphere since 1850.

# Import-export

• India’s merchandise exports stood at $35.47 billion in October, or 35.2% higher than the pre-pandemic level of 2019 and 42.3% above the number in October 2020.

• However, imports grew faster to $55.37 billion, or 62.5% higher than a year ago and 45.8% over the number in October 2019.

• Coal and gold imports more than doubled during October, rising by almost 119% and 104%, respectively from a year earlier.

# Covaxin

• The government of Australia has recognised Bharat biotech’s Covaxin.

• This recognition from the Therapeutic goods administration (TGA) of the department of health will enable travellers fully vaccinated with Covaxin to travel to the country.

# GST revenues

• The GST collection in October has reached 1.30 lakh crore which is second highest ever.

• The union finance ministry said this reflected the recovery of economic activity and would have ‘still been higher if the sales of cars and other products had not been affected on accou t of disruption in supply of semi conductors.