India has taken significant steps to combat climate change through its National Action Plan on Climate Change and commitments under the Paris Agreement. This includes increasing renewable energy capacity, promoting electric vehicles and sustainability initiatives. India has emerged as a global leader in renewable energy investments. While making progress, India stresses that developing countries must be allowed to pursue economic growth to lift citizens out of poverty. The international community will need to find consensus to further increase climate ambitions.

1. India’s effort for
combatting
climate change
India’s effort for
combatting
climate change
By shikhar mishra

2. Science of climate change
Increase in GHGs concentration in atmosphere
over the last 2000 years

3. ASSESSSMENT OF
GLOBAL CHANGE IN
TEMPERATURE BY IPCC
ANNUAL AVERAGE ARCTIC SEA ICE HAS SHRUNK WITH LARGER DECREASE
OBSERVED EACH DECADE .MOUNTAIN GLACIERS AND SNOW HAVE DECLINED.
THERE HAVE BEEN SINGNIFICANT CHANGES IN PRECIPITATION PATTERNS
GLOBALLY .THE AREA AFFECTED BY DROUGHT IS LIKELY TO HAVE INCREASED
SINCE THE 1970S.
OVER THE PAST 50 YEARS ,COLD DAYS AND NIGHTS ,FROST
HAVE BECAME LESS FREQUENT AND HOT DAYS AND HOT
NIGHTS ,MORE FREQUENT
AN INCRASE IN INTENSE TROPICAL CYCLONE ACTIVITY IN
THE NORTH ATLANTIC HAS BEEN OBSERVED .WARM AIR IS
FUEL FOR CYCLONES AND HURRICANES
SPRING EVENTS COMES EARLER AND PLANTS AND
ANIMALS ARE MOVING UPWARDS AND POLE WARDS
BECAUSE OF RECENT WARING AND TRENDS
SCIENTISTS HAVE OBSERVED CLIMATE-INDUCED CHANGES IN
AT LEAST 420 PHYSICAL PROCESSES AND BIOLOGICAL SPECIES
OR COMMUNITIES
SNOW
COVER
RAIN AND
DROUGHT
A HOTTER
WORLD
EXTREME
WEATHER
SEASONS
NATURE
GLOBAL AND CONTINENTAL TEMPERATURE CHANGE
GRAPHS COMPARE OBSERVED CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE [BLACK LINES]WITH MODEL RESULTS
THAT INCLUDE ONLY NATURAL CLIMATE FORCINGS LIKE VOLCANIC ERUPTION AND CHANGES IN
SOLAR ENERGY [BLUE] AND MODEL RESULTS THAT USE BOTH NATURAL AND HUMAN CAUSED
CLIMATE FORCINGS [PINK].

4. EXPECTED CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS
FOR INDIA
CHANGES IN WEATHER PATTERNS
CYCLONIC DISTRIBUTIONS
SEA LEVEL RISE
CHANGES IN AGRICULTURAL YIELDS
CHANGES IN FRESHWATER SUPPLY
IMPACTS ON FORESTS AND NATURAL ECOSYSTEM
IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS FOR INDIA
MAPPING VULNERABILTY:CLIMATE
CHANGE IN INDIA

5. •.
•.
History [background]
•India ratified the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in
1993 and the Kyoto Protocol in 2002.
In June 2008, India announced its National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The Action Plan effectively
pulls together a number of the government’s existing national plans on water, renewable energy, energy
efficiency, agriculture and others – bundled with additional ones – into a set of eight missions. The Prime
Minister’s Council on Climate Change is in charge of the overall implementation of the plan. The plan document
elaborates on a unique approach to reduce the stress of climate change and uses the poverty-growth linkage to
make its point
• Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, India set three major goals to be achieved for the period between 2020
and 2030—increase the share of non-fossil fuels to 40% of the total electricity generation capacity, to reduce
the emission intensity of the economy by 33 to 35% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and to create additional
carbon sink of 2.5 -3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover.
India has emerged as a global leader in renewable energy, where investments top those into
fossil fuel. After adopting its National Electricity Plan (NEP) in 2018, India remains on track to
overachieve its “2˚C compatible” rated Paris Agreement climate action targets

6. Actions undertaken to
tackle climate change
Major initiatives of the
Government towards combating
climate change:
National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC): The
Action plan covers eight major missions on Solar,
Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water,
Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, Green India,
Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic Knowledge on
Climate Change
International Solar Alliance (ISA): ISA was jointly launched by the Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, and the then President of France, Francois Hollande in Paris on
the side-lines of CoP 21 in 2015. The vision and mission of the alliance is to
provide a dedicated platform for cooperation among solar resource rich countries
that lie completely or partial between the Tropics of Capricorn & Cancer.
State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC): State governments have drafted climate
strategies aligned with the eight National Missions under the NAPCC. The strategies focus on
issues ranging from climate mitigation, energy efficiency, and resource conservation to climate
adaptation
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: The scheme provides LPG connections to five
crore below-poverty-line beneficiaries. The connections are given in the name of
women beneficiaries to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and conventional fuel
like cow dung for cooking food, thus reducing air pollution protection

7. India Announces Stronger
Climate Action
India is one of the few countries on its way to meet its Nationally
Determined Commitments stated in the Paris Agreement in 2015.
India is a growing “energy-thirsty country” with large developmental
needs. India is third largest GHG emitter, but its per capita emissions are
only at a third of the global average.
As Prime Minister Modi said: “the scale of global action required to combat
climate change is still lacking…We need a comprehensive approach to include
values, lifestyles, and development priorities to combat climate change.” He
added that India has come with a strong roadmap and is taking concrete
steps domestically.

8. 1. Renewable Energy – Powering India’s future
“India is committed to achieving 175GW by 2022. India further commits to increase its renewable energy capacity to 450GW.”
Achieving 450 GW of renewable energy capacity would be more than five times the country’s current renewable capacity at
around 81 GW.
India’s renewable energy ambition is backed by strong domestic actions. India is almost halfway toward to meeting its target of
175 GW of renewable energy by 2022.
2. Sustainable Mobility
Increasing the fleet of electric vehicles and its charging infrastructure in India will be key to improve air quality in cities, enhance
energy security by reduced dependence on imported crude, and is also a key solution to fight climate change.
India has one of the lowest motorization rates in the world. The transport sector in India, is one of the fastest growing sectors in
India, despite the recent downturn. This demand for mobility solutions is projected to increase even further.
Electric Vehicles provide a sustainable solution to meet this growing demand. Seven states in India have already adopted electric
vehicle policies, and others such as in Telangana, Gujarat, have developed draft policies. Around 14 states in total have draft or
accepted EV policies. India’s national policy on electric mobility, such as FAME-II, and state-level policies are putting India on the
right track to rein in future emissions.
3. Water Preservation
India is a water scarce nation. According to estimates, in June 2019 around 44% of India’s areas were under various degrees of
drought conditions. Parts of several states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Karnataka in India have struggled with serious drought
conditions
To ensure complementarity in domestic action on water, the government also established a new Jal Shakti ministry to work on all
water related issues ranging from supplying clean drinking water, inter-state and international shared water resources and disputes,
to river cleaning projects.

9. 4. Coalition Toward a Resilient Future
India is also keen on fostering international cooperation to fight climate change. Prime Minister highlighted that India along with
France set up the International Solar Alliance (ISA). 80 countries have signed ISA’s framework agreement. ISA promotes and
facilitates cooperation on solar among developing countries.
Along the lines of ISA, Prime Minister Modi announced establishing, the International Coalition for Disaster Resilient
Infrastructure (CDRI), PM Modi invited all countries present to join the Coalition. Like ISA, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient
Infrastructure is an international organization in the making with over 30 countries.
The coalition will work towards a common goal of establishing infrastructure which is resilient to pressures of climate change
and environmental disasters. India has pledged INR 4.8 billion (Around USD 70 million) to the CDRI.
5. Low-Carbon Pathways
“Industry Transition Group.” The group will develop low-carbon pathways with the aim of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050
in hard-to-abate industries such as steel and cement.
The objective of the program is to reduce and eliminate exposure of women and children to indoor air pollution due to solid
fuel burnt for cooking. About 480,000 premature deaths annually due to direct exposure of the households, and another
270,000 due to “indirect” exposure outdoors.
Stopping the use of solid fuels is also an important step to mitigate local air pollution.
India’s stand is based on its domestic obligations of addressing the basic development needs of poverty
eradication, food security and nutrition, universal access to education and health, gender equality and
women empowerment, water and sanitation, clean energy, employment, sustainable cities and human
settlement and its commitment to fight climate change.

10. THE TREATMENT OF INDIA’S CLIMATE POLICY AS TWO LEVEL
GAME MAKES SENSE NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERING AND
COMPOSITION OF FORCES AT THE TOP LEVELS OPPOSING OR
BACKING A POLICY SHIFT ,BUT ALSO BECAUSE OF THE DIVERGING
PAY OFFs ON INDIA’S ACTIONS AT THESE LEVELS .
DOMESTIC INTIATIVES CAN BE STARTED BY THE COUNTRY ALONE ,AND
THEIR BENEFITS COULD BE REAPED DIRECTLY BY INDIA ,ALTHOUGH
THERE WOULD BE POSITIVE SPILL-OVER FOR OTHER COUNTRIES
LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST ,AND STRENGTHENING THE CASE
FOR SPILTTING THE CLIMATE GAME INTO DOMESTIC AND
INTERNATIONAL PARTS ,THE RELATIVE AUTONOMY THE
GOVERNMENT ENJOYS IN INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS
FROM UNDUE INTERFRENCE BY DOMESTIC INTEREST
GROUPS APPLIES LESS TO POLICIES WITH A PREDOMINATLY
NATIONAL REACH.
India’s Turn in
Climate Policy:

11. India has maintained that it will meet its 2030 targets ahead of schedule. At the
recently concluded meeting of environment ministers from the BRICS and
BASIC countries, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that India was
moving towards achieving its NDC targets. "India is walking the talk on NDCs.
We have achieved reducing energy intensity by 25% and already 78GW of
renewable energy has been made possible, while at the same time forest cover
has increased by nearly 15,000 sq and tree cover outside the forest is
increasing rapildly
Independent assessments show that India’s commitments are keeping with the Paris
Agreement goal of keeping temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius. Analysis
like the one by Australia-based think tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial
Analysis (IEEFA) show that India is likely to meet its goals, particularly on increasing non-
fossil generation capacity and reducing emissions intensity, ahead of the deadline set by
India in its Paris climate pledges
India has been working to develop its long-term strategy for development that is low on
greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement encourages countries to submit long-term or
mid-century plans that provide a sense of an economy wide roadmap to reduce or limit
greenhouse emissions. There has been in recent years based on scientific assessments
added urgency to drastically reduce emissions bringing it down to "net zero" by 2050. India's
India signals it is
ready to do more
to slow down
climate change

12. The Way Forward
Wealthy nations like the U.S., and those of the EU argued that emissions from
developing countries are consistently rising and they need to commit to more
serious emission cuts. A consensus needs to be developed at the earliest
The immediate up scaling of ambition in the second Commitment period of Kyoto Protocol and its early
ratification by all Kyoto Protocol parties would be a step in the right direction.
Concerning mitigation, distinction enshrined in the Convention between Annex I (Developed) and nonAnnex I
(developing) Parties must be maintained in accordance with the principles of Equity, CBDR and other provisions of
the UN Conventions
The ‘developing versus developed country’ schism needs to be diluted at the earliest and Developed Countries
should avoid watering down the CBDR principle envisaged in earlier agreements.