Mumbai, Feb. 18 -- Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday hailed India as a key innovator and leader in addressing climate change, stressing the urgent need for creative, collaborative models in adaptation and mitigation during a fireside chat at the inaugural Mumbai Climate Week.

Speaking at the event, Clinton emphasised that meaningful progress cannot wait for political shifts in the United States.

"We cannot wait for the political change that I know will come to the United States because that's a few years off. We have to build the models here. We have to do the innovation here," she said.

Clinton pointed to successful grassroots innovations as proof of scalable impact, citing an insurance product that has reached...