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The INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) are plans by governments communicated to the UNFCCC regarding the steps they will take to address climate change domestically. As per the COP 19 decision (Warsaw 2013), all Parties were requested to prepare their INDCs, without prejudice to the legal nature of the contributions towards achieving the objectives of the Convention and communicate well in advance of COP 21.
India’s INDC: India submitted its INDC to the UNFCCC by early October 2015. It is comprehensive and covers all elements, i.e. adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology and capacity building. India’s goal is to reduce the overall emission intensity and improve the energy efficiency of its economy over time. It also covers concerns to protect the vulnerable sectors and segments of its society. The highlights of India’s INDC are as given below8:
(i) To put forward and further propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation.
(ii) To adopt a climate friendly and cleaner path than the one hitherto followed by others at a corresponding level of economic development.
(iii) To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent of the 2005 level by 2030.
(iv) To achieve about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel- based energy resources by 2030 with the help of transfer of technology and low cost international finance including from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
(v) To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
(vi) To better adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in development programmes in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly agriculture, water resources, the Himalayan region, coastal regions, health and disaster management.
(vii) To mobilize domestic and new and additional funds from developed countries for implementing these mitigation and adaptation actions in view of the resources required and the resource gap.
(viii) To build capacities, create a domestic framework and an international architecture for quick diffusion of cutting-edge climate technology in India and for joint collaborative R&D for such future technologies.
India’s Challenges and Efforts: India houses 30 per cent of the global poor, 24 per cent of global population without access to electricity, and 92 million people without access to safe drinking water. Coupled with its vulnerability in terms of the impact of climate change, this entails that India faces formidable and complex challenges in terms of balancing the sustainable development agenda. Given the challenges it faces, it has prepared an ambitious plan in terms of clean energy, energy efficiency and lower emission intensity while addressing the critical issue of poverty and food security9—
(i) India’s INDC sets ambitious renewable energy targets mainly in terms of solar and wind energy. With a potential of more than 100 GW, the target is to achieve 60 GW of wind power and 100 GW of solar power installed capacity by 2022. Given that in 2014 the world’s entire installed solar power capacity was 181 GW, this target is extremely ambitious and clearly places India as a major potential renewable energy player (World
Resource Institute, October 2015).
(ii) India has also launched a historic International Solar Alliance (ISA) which is envisaged as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to address their special energy needs and will provide a platform to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach.
(iii) Although there is lot of emphasis on boosting the renewable energy sector, the INDC clearly state that coal would continue to be the dominant source of power generation in the future. However, the INDC incorporates a lot of initiatives to improve the efficiency of coal-based power plants and to reduce their carbon footprint. Clean coal technologies would be critical to meeting the demand for power generation in the future.
(iv) In addition to mitigation-related activities, the INDC also incorporates adaptation-related activities. Out of the eight National Missions on Climate Change in India, five focus on adaptation in sectors like agriculture, water and forestry.
(v) Since June 2014, when international oil prices started declining, India has increased its excise duties from
Rs. 15.5 per litre to Rs. 22.7 per litre as of December 2016 for branded petrol and from Rs. 5.8 per litre to Rs. 19.7 per litre for branded diesel. The results of the climate change effort undertaken by the major G-20 countries and India are striking—the increase in petrol tax has been over 150 per cent in India. In contrast, the governments of most advanced countries have simply passed on the benefits to consumers, setting back the cause of curbing climate change. As a result, India now outperforms all the countries except those in Europe in terms of tax on petroleum and diesel.
(vi) Having decisively moved from a regime of carbon subsidies, it is now de facto imposing a carbon tax on petroleum products at about US$ 150 per ton, which is about 6 times greater than the level recommended by the ‘Stern Review on Climate Change’.
(vii) India is faring relatively better to other countries at comparable stages of economic development in terms of the ‘share of fossil fuel use in
overall energy consumption’. India’s reliance on fossil fuels remains well below China (the most relevant comparator) but also below the US, UK and Europe at comparable stages of development—this echoes India’s commitment to never exceed the per capita emission of advanced countries.
Mobilising finance is critical to achieving the ambitious targets set by India. Preliminary estimates suggest that at least US$ 2.5 trillion (at 2014-15 prices) will be required for meeting India’s climate change action under the INDC between now and 2030. While the maximum share of the country’s current climate finance comes from budgetary sources, India is not relying solely on them and is experimenting with a careful mix of market mechanisms together with fiscal instruments and regulatory interventions. However, it needs to be emphasized that international finance is a critical enabler for the scaled up climate action plans.