BERLIN: India on Thursday announced its much awaited post-2020 ‘climate action plan’ promising to reduce emission intensity by 33-35% by 2030 over the 2005 levels, boost clean energy in electricity generation to 40% while adding carbon sinks — tree and forest cover to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — amounting to 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2.
In keeping with its position that India’s development needs cannot be delayed, there is no commitment to a ‘peaking year’ as to when emissions will be capped and there are no sector specific targets. Instead, India has outlined a plan to reduce emission intensity which is the ratio of greenhouse gases to GDP or emission per unit GDP.
Hours after submitting the climate action plan to the UNFCCC within its October 1 deadline, environment and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi, “India’s INDC is fair and ambitious, considering the fact that India is keen to attempt to work towards a low carbon emission pathway while simultaneously endeavoring to meet all the developmental challenges that the country faces today.”
