India submits 2031-35 climate goals to UN, makes them conditional on finance, tech support from developed nations

NEW DELHI: A month after the Union cabinet approved the country's climate action goals, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), for 2031-35 period, India has formally submitted its pledges to the UN climate body underlining important conditions noting that the developing countries' commitments "cannot be fulfilled" without adequate support in terms of "finance" and "technology transfer".

India in its submission pledged to achieve 60% cumulative installed capacity of its electric power from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2035 "with the help of transfer of technology and low-cost international finance"; reduce emissions intensity (emission per unit of GDP) by 47% by 2035 from 2005 level; and create a carbon sink of 3.5 to 4.0 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent through forest and tree cover by 2035 over 2005 stock.

Besides these three quantitative goals, India in its submission on April 24 made five other points that include efforts to mobilize domestic, and new and additional finance from developed countries to implement adaptation and mitigation actions; propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living; build capacities; align with the vision of a 'Viksit Bharat' (developed India) by 2047; and better adapt to climate change by enhancing investment in development programmes in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly agriculture, water resources, Himalayan region, coastal regions, health and disaster management.

Flagging the conditions in fulfilling climate commitments, India in its submission said, "A significant share of developing countries' NDCs is conditional upon the availability of adequate means of implementation, particularly finance, technology transfer, and capacity building.

"Without sufficient funding, technology cooperation, and capacity-building, these conditional commitments cannot be fulfilled, resulting in an ambition gap that weakens the collective objectives of the Paris Agreement."

India in its document also clarified that the country's NDC does not commit the country to any specific emission reduction obligations for individual sectors, including for agriculture.

"The objective is to reduce the overall emissions intensity of its economy, inter-alia, by promoting deployment of clean energy and enhanced energy efficiency, while also safeguarding vulnerable sectors and communities," it said.

India also sought to remind the rich nations of their obligation, saying developed countries, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement, are obligated to provide finance, technology, and capacity building support for addressing climate change.

"India, in turn, will require its fair share of these resources and support to advance its climate goals. The effective implementation of India's NDC depends on provision of additional support such as financial resources, technology transfer, and capacity-building by developed countries, in accordance with the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement," said the document.

Countries' NDCs are non-binding, voluntary climate action commitments that are submitted every five years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. India had submitted its first NDC in 2015 for the target year 2030 which was subsequently updated in 2022. Both the times India had flagged necessary conditions, reminding the UN body of the developed countries' promise to support developing countries, including India, for implementing their climate action goals.

The country has, however, fulfilled its certain commitments and been on track to meet the remaining ones with domestic finance. As on Feb 28, India's non-fossil fuel based electric power installed capacity was more than 52.5% of the total installed capacity whereas the emission intensity of its GDP reduced by 36% between 2005 to 2020.

"India is also on track to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through forest and tree cover by 2030. During 2005 to 2021, an additional carbon sink of 2.29 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent has been created," said India in its submission.

Underlining the country's priority, the document says, "India aims to deliver on its ambitious targets of universal access to services like water, sanitation, waste management, affordable housing, electric power in line with short and medium horizon goals set out by the current initiatives of the government including fulfilment of sustainable development goals."