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Bengaluru: Late by more than a year, India’s third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is finally here. On Wednesday (March 25), the Union Cabinet approved India’s NDC, which is a set of long-term goals to cut carbon emissions and adapt to climate impacts that every country signatory to the Paris Agreement has to provide, and update every five years.

India’s updated targets include reducing emissions intensity of its GDP by 47% by 2035 from the 2005 level, achieving 60% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2035, and creating a carbon sink of 3.5 to 4.0 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent through forest and tree cover by 2035 (when compared to the 2005 level). These will soon be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) soon.

India’s last update to the NDC came in August 2022, when it agreed to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030 from the 2005 level, and achieve 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.

‘India is doing more than other countries’

“The new targets announced by India set at rest doubts, if any, about India delaying its actions under a destabilised environment of multilateral cooperation,” R.R. Rashmi, distinguished fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute, told The Wire. He said India has done “much more” and “faster” than several........

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