India sets new climate goals

INDIA has approved new targets for slashing planet-warming emissions, more than a year after a United Nations deadline for updated commitments.

The Indian cabinet last Wednesday (3) approved the new national emissions pledges, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Prime minister Narendra Modi announced these goals last year at United Nations climate talks in Glasgow, but they had not been formalised.

The new NDC will commit India to reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45 per cent from its 2005 level in the next seven years – a 10 per cent increase over its previous 2016 pledge.

India will also aim to meet half of its energy demands from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, by 2030. This, too, is a boost over its previous target of 40 per cent, which the government said it had achieved in December 2021.

Under the 2015 UN Paris Agreement, parties are required to update their longterm climate goals every five years and are urged to show greater ambition as the impacts of climate change worsen.