CENTRE FORMS COMMITTEE TO IMPLEMENT INDIA’S TARGET UNDER PARIS PACT

NEW DELHI: The environment ministry has formed a high-level, inter-ministerial committee for implementation of India’s targets under the Paris Agreement on climate change that took effect in 2016. The panel will be headed by environment secretary RP Gupta.

The Apex Committee for Implementation of Paris Agreement.(AIPA) has been constituted for a coordinated response on climate change matters that ensures India is on track to meeting its obligations under the Paris Agreement, including its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Senior officials from 14 ministries, including finance, agriculture, science and technology, jal shakti, power and earth sciences, among others, will serve as members of the AIPA, according to a notification issued by the ministry on November 27.

The Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change deals with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance.

It sets out a global framework to avoid climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

India’s NDCs have eight goals, including three quantitative goals -- reduction in the emissions intensity of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33% to 35% by 2030 from the 2005 levels; achieving about 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030; and creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

The functions of AIPA include coordinating communication and reporting of NDCs t o UNFCCC; defining the responsibilities of ministries for achieving India’s NDC goals and receiving periodic information updates to monitor, review and revisit climate goals to fulfil the requirements of the Paris Agreement.