India pledges 33-35% cut in carbon intensity by 2030

India has promised to make its economy more energy efficient and cut the carbon produced per unit of GDP growth by 33-35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels, its contribution to help reach a deal to slow global warming at a United Nations climate summit in December.

How to achieve the target

• India promised to grow the share of power generated from non-fossil fuel sources to 40 per cent.
• Increase tree cover across the country to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent.
• India said it planned to develop 25 Solar Parks, supply 100,000 solar pumps to farmers and convert all 55,000 petrol pumps across the country to solar.
• It also pledged to develop hydro and nuclear energy and said it would build more mass transit rail systems in cities to limit car usage and increase rail freight.
• Preliminary estimates indicate India would need to spend around $206 billion between 2015 and 2030 for adapting to the effects of climate change.

Comment

• India, often acting as the voice of the developing world, plays an important role in global climate talks. India now has positioned itself as a global leader in clean energy and some environmental groups welcomed its plan.
• China and the United States, the biggest polluters, have agreed to start reducing their emissions over the next 15 years, but India has long said its economy is too small and its people too poor to agree to absolute cuts in greenhouse gases now.
• The world's third-largest emitter and last major economy to submit plans ahead of the Paris summit did not, however, commit to any absolute cuts in carbon emissions. Instead, India said it aimed to cut carbon intensity - meaning its emissions will rise, but at a slower pace - and to grow the share of power generated from non-fossil fuel sources to 40 per cent.
• Despite these commitments, India has a poor record of fixing infrastructure and environmentalists fear that India's emissions will rise rapidly as the use of cars, air travel and air conditioning grows among its 1.2 billion people.
• India's target for carbon intensity falls well short of China, which pledged at the end of June to reduce its carbon intensity by 60-65 per cent by 2030.
• At a previous U.N. summit in 2009, India had already committed to reduce its emissions intensity by 2020 by 20-25 per cent from 2005 levels.
• As per United Nations 146 nations, accounting for almost 87 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions, have issued plans in the run-up to Paris. They include all members of the Group of 20 except Saudi Arabia, which fears for its oil exports.
• Close to 200 nations will meet at a UN summit to agree a deal to slow man-made warming by keeping temperature rises below a ceiling of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

By: Vishal