COP27: Centre reaches out to states for stronger climate action plan

Ahead of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly referred to as COP27, the Centre is reaching out to states to encourage them to devise stronger climate action plans. This comes with India aiming to become a net-zero economy by 2070. COP27 will be held in Egypt from November 6 to 18.

As the government prepares for it, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is hosting a two-day conference of state environment ministers in Ekta Nagar, Gujarat, starting September 23.

The conference aims to foster greater synergy between the central and state governments in developing better policies on several environment and climate issues, said the ministry.

This would include eliminating plastic pollution through a multi-pronged approach and 'State Action Plans' to effectively combat climate change with a focus on LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), which is part of India's nationally determined commitments (NDC) submitted to the UN.

Emphasis on expanding the forest cover while protecting species and restoring degraded land is also on the agenda.

During COP26 in Glasgow last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 2070 deadline to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.

This is two decades later than the 2050 target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

India has committed to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45 per cent by 2030 – up from the 2005 level of 30 per cent.

State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC) are already in place in 33 states and Union Territories, according to a Lok Sabha reply in 2022. But only a few states have started implementing them.

In March 2022, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation announced the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP), which aims to make Mumbai a net-zero city by 2050. However, the corporation has not yet constituted a climate cell, as mandated by the MCAP.

To achieve the ambitious target, the central government is reaching out to states to motivate them to adopt: efficient and cleaner technologies; renewable energy; e-mobility; better waste management methods; climate-resilient infrastructure; sustainable urbanisation, and so on.

According to environment officials in the ministry, the last such conference was held in 2015.

MoEFCC also hopes to bring states on board on environment matters through policies and programmes clearance, coordination and by way of overseeing implementation through its single-window PARIVESH portal.

Among other things, the Centre intends to push for tree promotion on a mission mode outside of forests. The national goal is to bring one-third of the area under forest and tree cover.

In its NDC, India has put forth a target of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by increasing forest and tree cover by 2030.