Green bodies welcome India's INDC on climate action

Greenpeace India has termed India's climate targets as 'steps in the right direction'

Reacting to the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) announced by India today, green bodies said that it was a much-awaited climate action plan and reflects the country's development challenges, aspirations and the realities of climate change.

"India's INDC is fair and is quite ambitious, specifically on renewable energy and forestry. It reflects its development challenges, aspirations of large numbers of poor people and the realities of climate change," said Sunita Narain, director general, Center for Science and Environment.

"From all angles, India's INDC is as good as China's and better than the US's considering that both these countries have higher emissions than India and are economically more capable of reducing their emissions and mitigating climate change," deputy director general, CSE, Chandra Bhushan said.

In its INDC, India has pledged to improve emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35% by 2030 below 2005 levels. It has also pledged to increase the share of non-fossil fuels-based electricity to 40% by 2030 while also agreeing to enhance its forest cover which will absorb 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, the main gas responsible for global warming by 2030.

"India has accepted the huge impact that climate change is exerting and will exert on different sectors of its economy and has agreed to enhance investments to adapt in vulnerable sectors like agriculture, water resources, coastal regions, health and disaster management," he said.

Greenpeace India has termed the climate targets as 'steps in the right direction'.

According to Pujarini Sen, Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace India, clear articulation of a Renewable Energy target would also have been in keeping with expectations for climate justice, as these are the people most vulnerable to climate change.

"Given the growth in the renewable energy sector, we would have liked to see a specific target for solar and wind. 40% of electricity from renewable energy by 2030 is definitely possible, especially so with financial and technical support," said Sen.