India could save trillions in healthcare costs if Paris climate goals are met: Global Environmental Outlook

India could save trillions in healthcare costs if Paris climate goals are met: Global Environmental Outlook

1. The 6^th Global Environment Outlook (GEO) has estimated that India could save at least $3 trillion in healthcare costs if it implemented policy initiatives coherent to the Paris Agreement. The 6^thGEO has been released at 4th session of UN Environment Assembly, being held in Nairobi, Kenya.
2. The Paris agreement (2015) is an international agreement with the framework of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It seeks to combat climate change and accelerate the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. The Paris agreement aims to a) keep global temperature rise in 21^st century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and b) pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
3. UNFCC is an intergovernmental treaty adopted in 1992 to address the problem of climate change.
4. As a commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, nations have to put forward national climate actions they intend to take to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. These are called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
5. India’s INDCs include a) reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33% to 35% by 2030 from 2005 level, b)increase total cumulative electricity generation from fossil free energy sources to 40% by 2030, c) create additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons through additional forest and tree cover.