Cabinet nod for climate pledges

Source: The post is based on the article “Cabinet nod for climate pledges” published in The Hindu on 4th August 2022.

What is the News?

The Union Cabinet has approved India’s updated climate pledge to the Paris Agreement. However, the ​​approved pledges were fewer than those the Prime Minister committed in Glasgow.

What is a Climate pledge to the Paris Agreement?

According to the 2015 Paris Agreement, each nation must set its own climate goals, which must be gradually modified every few years with increasingly challenging ones. 

In 2015, just before the Paris Agreement was finalized, India submitted its first pledge also known as NDC (Nationally Determined Commitments). It had three primary targets:

– A minimum of 40% of all energy generation must come from non-fossil renewable sources, down from 2005 levels.

– A reduction of 33% to 35% in emissions intensity (or emissions per unit of GDP)

– Increasing the amount of forest cover would add 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent to the global carbon sink.

Commitments made at Glasgow: In 2021, the Indian Prime Minister announced the following new five-point set of targets at COP 26 in Glasgow.

Which of these above targets announced at Glasgow has been included in updated NDCs?

Only two of these targets have been made official and put in the updated NDC. These are:

– India will now reduce its emission intensity by at least 45%, instead of just 33 to 35%, from 2005 levels by 2030.

– It would also ensure that at least 50% of its total electricity generation, not just 40%, would come from renewable sources by 2030.