New Delhi, Feb. 5: What does it take to appreciate the work of the current Mr India who made the 56-inch chest a part of the political fitness test?

A former Mr Universe with a 57-inch chest.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who built his body, stardom and political career in signature super-size, today said he was impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiatives on climate change.

"I watched Modi carefully when he was chief minister of Gujarat," said Schwarzenegger, who was in New Delhi to address an conference called the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.

The former California governor added that he was impressed with Gujarat's efforts to expand renewable energy, including an initiative to install solar power generation panels along canals.

"My dream is he'll continue (with such initiatives)," the Hollywood superstar said.

Arnie the Brawny should meet the exacting standards Modi had set.

It takes a "56-inch chest" to convert Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat, Modi had said last year in the heat and dust of the Lok Sabha campaign, prompting some to wonder whether he was referring to his own vital statistics or speaking figuratively.

In America, politicians cannot take such matters lightly.

Schwarzenegger himself knows this well. One of the unsolved mysteries in the US is the height of Schwarzenegger. The official figure is 6 feet 2 inches. But intrepid enquirers have claimed that his height was recorded as 6 feet and 1.5 inches during his bodybuilding days in the 1960s.

Some have put the height at 5 feet and 10 inches. Schwarzenegger had joked about it and the debate had led to the creation of a website dedicated to the subject.

Another website, CelebsFacts, lists Schwarzenegger's chest width as 57 inches - one inch more than Modi's qualifying threshold. Unlike the dispute on the height, matters seem to be quieter on the Terminator's chest front.

On the climate front, too, Schwarzenegger did not beat about the bush. "It's absolute bogus to say we have to choose between the environment and economy," he told reporters after the inaugural session.

He said California's economy grew at a pace higher than the average US growth despite the state's aggressive actions on climate change.

The actor had pushed for the development of renewable energies among other actions to address climate change during his tenure as the governor of California from November 2003 through January 2011.

Responding to a query on the Indian government's initiatives on climate change, Schwarzenegger gave the thumbs-up to Modi.

The Modi government had last year announced a plan to expand India's installed solar energy capacity to 100,000 MW by 2020. The plan is among initiatives to curb India's greenhouse gas emissions, that also include a tax on coal and adding forestland.

Schwarzenegger said climate change should not be viewed exclusively through the portents of rising sea levels, melting Himalayan glaciers or its adverse impacts on agriculture, but should also be seen as an opportunity to create jobs, improve people's health and protect national security.