India unveils climate target to cut carbon intensity

By Tommy Wilkes

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has promised to make its economy more energy efficient and cut the carbon produced per unit of GDP growth by 33-35 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, its contribution to help reach a deal to slow global warming at a U.N. climate summit in December.

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.

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.

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 percent.

India, often acting as the voice of the developing world, plays an important role in global climate talks and some environmental groups welcomed its plan.

"India now has positioned itself as a global leader in clean energy, and is poised to play an active and influential role in the international climate negotiations this December," said Rhea Suh, president of New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council.

Close to 200 nations will meet at a U.N. 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.

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 "aggressively" 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.

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.

In its submission, New Delhi stressed that coal would continue to dominate future power generation.

$2.5 TRILLION NEEDED

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 percent by 2030.

At a previous U.N. summit in 2009, India had already committed to reduce its emissions intensity by 2020 by 20-25 percent from 2005 levels.

India said its plans were "fair and ambitious" as it balances a low-carbon future with its development needs.

Preliminary estimates indicate India would need to spend around $206 billion between 2015 and 2030 for adapting to the effects of climate change, the submission said.

"India's climate actions have so far been largely financed from domestic resources. A substantial scaling up of the climate action plans would require greater resources...," said the statement, lodged with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

At least $2.5 trillion will be required for meeting India's climate change actions between now and 2030, it estimated.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met U.S. President Barack Obama and France and Britain's leaders last month, and called for a climate change agenda that helps developing countries with access to finance and technology.

(Reorporting by Tommy Wilkes; Additional reporting by David Stanway in Beijing; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Ed Davies)