Katowice, Poland: India is set to surpass its commitment to increase the share of renewables in its energy generation basket and reduce the amount of carbo dioxide pollution produced for every dollar of GDP by 33 to 35% ahead of 2030.“In terms of our commitment we are already on track. This has been officially acknowledged by the United Nations Environment, all related stakeholders and agencies. We are already achieving our goals much ahead of the deadline,” said Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan.India’s national climate action plans, known in UN parlance as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), under the Paris Agreement set three major goals—increase the share of non-fossil fuels to 40% of the total electricity generation capacity, to reduce the emission intensity of the economy by 33 to 35% by 2030 from 2005 level, and to create additional carbon sink of 2.5 -3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover.Independent assessments show that India’s commitments are keeping with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius. More recent independent assessments find that India is likely to meet its goals, particularly on increasing non-fossil generation capacity and reducing emissions intensity, ahead of the deadline set by India in its Paris climate pledges.“We are on our way to achieving our NDC targets much before the deadlines we had set for ourselves. We are in a position from where we can over-achieve our targets,” said Environment Secretary CK Mishra.An analysis by Australia-based think tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) finds that India is likely to achieve its energy capacity and emissions intensity goals by 2020, that is a decade before the deadline of 2030 it set in its NDC.On increasing the non-fossil fuel capacity target, IEEFA estimates that by March 2019, India’s thermal power capacity will be 226GW or 63% of India’s total of 360GW. At that pace, by the end of calendar 2019 the share of non-fossil fuel capacity is likely to exceed 40% .The National Electricity Policy finalised in 2018 forecasts a decline in fossil fuel capacity from 218GW or 67% of 2017 installed capacity to 264GW or just 43% of total installed capacity by 2027.The emissions intensity of GDP, India has been able to bring it down by 21% below 2005 levels by 2014. At this average annual rate of 2%, India will meet its Paris goal nearly a decade ahead of 2030.However, as regards the forestry goal, India’s achievements are not as robust. “Our commitment is to create additional carbon sink of 2.5 -3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, given our present pace it may be a little difficult to achieve this target,” said Mishra. But the situation is being addressed. “We are conscious of this, so a new strategy has been formulated, and put in place by which between now and 2030 this pace is going to almost be doubled. This should help meet the goal.”A more detailed analysis of India’s progress on its cliamte goals will be submitted to the UN climate secretariat in its Biennial Assessment Report. As per the agreement reached in Cancun in 2020, developing countries are required to submit an assessment report every two years on the progress made in reducing emissions. India was slated to release its mandated biennial assessment report on Monday at the climate meet in Katowice. However, this was not Possible as the report is yet to be approved by Cabinet. “The report is ready, and the technical assessment is over, and I have approved it. It now requires approval by the Cabinet, after which it will be submitted within the deadline of December 31,” said environment secretary CK Mishra.There has been a rising demand that countries increase their efforts to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A demand that has been gaining strength in light of the mounting evidence and robust assessments that the current nationally determined climate action would not be sufficient to limit temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius let alone the aspirational 1.5 degrees Celsius agreed to in Paris.There is concern in some sectors that overachieving on the NDC goals may lead to increased pressures on India to revise its 2030 goals under the Paris Agreement. “If there is a need and if the whole world is acting on it, I can assure you India will be leading in this also, “ the minister said. He stressed that for India tackling climate change “is not merely a technical issue, for us it is a moral issue, for us it is an issue where we want to protect the DNA that has been provided by our ancestors”.India has made it clear that it is aware of that the world needs to do more and neither did it shy away from the idea of stepping up its own efforts. “We realise that everyone in the world needs to do much more than what they are currently committed to doing, because that is not enough. We hope that all the developed countries also fulfill their commitments. This includes their obligations to provide money and technology to the developing countries, so that countries like us are able to do much more than we are currently doing,” said Mishra.