india

Updated: Jul 24, 2019 15:20 IST

The United Nations has nudged India to update and enhance its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and announce the revamped strategy at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23.

Mexican diplomat Luis Alfonso de Alba, UN Secretary General’s special envoy for the 2019 climate summit, said on Tuesday that he has asked India to enhance its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Climate Agreement.

“I have asked them to come with a more ambitious plan. I am aware that a lot is being done on renewable energy. More work needs to be done on air quality, agriculture and other areas,” de Alba, who has recently held meetings with members of ministries of environment, external affairs, and new and renewable energy, said at a press conference.

The goal of the UN summit is to call on world leaders to enhance their NDCs in line with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% over the next decade and to net zero emissions by 2050.

Admitting that developed countries like the US, Saudi Arabia or some countries in European Union may not respond, Alfonso de Alba said it is not an excuse to not act. “There is no plan B. We know that the decision of US is not going to change, they have decided to leave the Paris agreement. We are working with other actors in US,” he said.

“Negotiations have basically finished. We have the Paris agreement and in Katowice we finalised the rule book for implementation of the Paris agreement,” Alba added.

India has been asked to lead the coalition on transforming the industry sector, along with Sweden. They will plan how industry can meet the 1.5 degree target, including finding pathways for the cement industry, shipping and aviation, oil and gas and others.

“In addition, governments will have to individually come out with their own plans to update and enhance their nationally determined contribution by having plans for 2020, 2030 and 2050,” he said.

Stating that India was taking the required steps to cut down on its emissions, environment minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted on Wednesday: “India is taking leadership position in achieving the NDCs. We have already created 80 GW of renewable power and have set a target of achieving 175 GW by 2022.”

Environment secretary, CK Mishra said “we are already on that track. We have very ambitious NDCs.”

India is on track to achieve two of its three key climate targets under the Paris agreement. India’s nationally determined contribution to reducing CO2 emissions can mainly be categorised under three heads. These are to achieve 40% of electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 and to reduce the emissions intensity of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 33 to 35% compared to 2005 levels by 2030. But India has been lagging on the third target which is to create carbon sinks of about 2.5 to 3 billion tones. The third target is linked with land use, on how much forest cover can be increased.

A senior ministry official said on condition of anonymity, “When none of the developed countries have committed to enhance ambition, why developing countries should promise?”