New York, September 23: US President Donald Trump was among heads of states who listened to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at the high-level UN Climate Action Summit on Monday. Donald Trump's appearance was unexpected at the Climate Change Summit. The US President spent about 15 minutes at the summit. He listened to speeches delivered by PM Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel before leaving. Howdy, Modi!: 'Abki Baar, Trump Sarkar', PM Narendra Modi Bats For Donald Trump at Mega Houston Event.

After PM Modi concluded his speech, President Trump was seen clapping sitting next to US Vice President Mike Pence. Trump, who had once called climate change a "Chinese hoax", faced flak from Democrats and activists for scheduling an appearance at a religious freedom event scheduled for the same time as the climate summit. However, he denied that it was a snub to the UN event.

PM Narendra Modi's Address at UN Climate Action Summit in New York:

"It’s not a snub at all. I’m very busy, I’m going on the flights today. The floods are very important to me, and uh, climate change - everything is very important," Trump told reporters on Sunday. In his address, PM Modi called for "global behavioural change" to tackle the issue of climate change. Asserting that not enough is being done to combat climate change, PM Modi said: "The time for talking is over. The world needs to act now."

PM Modi told the UN that India's policy on climate change action has been guided by the principle of "need, not greed", and that New Delhi is looking to increase its renewable energy target to 450 GW from the present 175 GW by 2022. "Need, not greed has been our guiding principle, and that is why India has not come only to speak but with a roadmap on combating climate change. We believe that an ounce of practice is worth more than a tonne of preaching," Modi said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 23, 2019 10:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).