India will meet a target of net zero emissions by 2070, the country’s prime minister has told the Cop26 global climate summit.

Speaking at the world leaders’ summit at the UN conference in Glasgow, Narendra Modi made five key pledges for how India would decarbonise over the next few decades. India, a developing country of more than 1.3 billion people, is the world’s third largest emitter of carbon dioxide after the US and China.

India was one of the last remaining major economies that had held out on a net zero commitment, despite months of pressure from the US, and Modi’s announcement marked one of the most significant moments of the summit’s opening day.

Modi also made significant shorter-term commitments, promising to have 50% of India’s power generated by renewable energy by 2030, increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500GW by 2030 and reduce its projected carbon emissions by 1bn tonnes between now and 2030. By 2030, he also committed to a 45% reduction in the carbon intensity of the economy.

While the 2070 net zero target falls behind the 2050 commitment made by the US and Europe and the 2060 commitment made by China and Saudi Arabia, it is in line with what many climate experts have modelled as the most feasible scenario for India to achieve net zero. A recent report released by the Delhi-based thinktank the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) put forward 2070 to 2080 as India’s most realistic roadmap for achieving carbon neutrality.

“India has clearly put the ball in the court of the developed world,” said Arunabha Ghosh, the chief executive of CEEW. “This is real climate action.”

Unlike countries in the west, and even China, India is decades away from its peak in terms of economic growth and energy consumption, and India’s energy demand is expected to grow faster than any other country over the next few years. Its population is also expected to overtake that of China to make it the largest in the world.

Currently, 70% of all power in India is generated by coal, and while it is one of the cheapest producers of solar energy in the world, there is still not the technology available to integrate it into the energy grid on a large scale. Advancements in hydrogen technology and storage will also be needed to help India’s industrial sector wean itself off coal, which is unlikely to happen until around 2040, according to experts.

India is already bearing the harsh consequences of climate breakdown. Millions across the country are exposed to severe heat, water shortages, extreme weather events such as flooding and coastal erosion, which have all been increasing in recent years.

In the build-up to the conference, Indian officials had appeared to rebuff calls to commit to net zero, emphasising instead the need for climate funding and climate justice for developing countries, who historically have emitted far less greenhouses gas than countries such as the US but are now bearing the economic costs that come with net zero commitments.

The commitments drew praise from the eminent climate ecologist Nicholas Stern, who said: “This was a very significant moment for the summit. [The action] might mean that India’s annual emissions of greenhouse gases could peak by 2030. This demonstrates real leadership from a country whose emissions per capita are about one-third of the global average. The rich world must respond [and] deliver a strong increase in international climate finance.”

In his speech, Modi called out previous commitments of climate finance as “hollow” and demanded developed countries make $1tn available as climate finance to developing countries “as soon as possible today”.

Modi told his fellow world leaders: “I am sure that the decisions taken in Glasgow will safeguard the future of generations to come and give them a safe and prosperous life.”

He apologised for running over his allotted speech time but said he believed it was his “duty to raise my voice for developing countries”.