Climate Change targets for 2030: Govt gives the nod to more vital.

Incorporating the promises made by India at the Glasgow conference, India enhanced its climate change targets for 2030.

India was now committing itself to at least a 45 per cent reduction in the emissions intensity of Gross Domestic Product (emissions per unit of GDP) from 2005 levels.
The climate change targets was a 33 to 35 per cent reduction.
India is also promising to ensure that at least 50 per cent of installed electricity generation capacity in 2030 would be based on non-fossil fuel-based sources.

This is an increase from the existing 40 per cent climate change targets.

Countries across the globe adopted an international climate agreement at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris in 2015.
The countries publicly outlined what post-2020 climate actions they intended to take under the new international agreement, known as their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
The INDCs largely determine whether the world achieves the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement:
- To hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C.
- To pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C
- To achieve net zero emissions in the second half of this century

Reduce emissions intensity of its GDP( Gross Domestic Product) by 33 to 35% by 2030 from 2005 level.
Achieve about 40% electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.
Create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tones of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

The Union Cabinet recently approved an update to India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
These are called five commitments, or Panchamrit, they are
- Increase the non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW (gigawatt) by 2030.
- Meet 50% of India’s energy requirements from “renewable energy” by 2030.
- Reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tones from now till 2030.
- Reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by more than 45%
- Achieve the target of “net zero” by the year 2070

The NAPCC was launched in 2008 by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.
The NAPCC identifies measures that promote development objectives while yielding co-benefits for effectively addressing climate change.
Eight “National Missions” form the core of the National action plan. They are

National Solar Mission:
- The mission’s objective is to increase the share of solar energy in the country’s total energy mix while also expanding the scope of other renewable sources.
National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency:
- It mandates specific energy consumption decreases in large energy-consuming industries
- Creates a framework to certify excess energy savings and with market-based mechanisms to trade these savings.
National Mission on Sustainable Habitat:
- The aim of the Mission is to make habitats more sustainable through a threefold approach that includes:
  - Improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings in the residential and commercial sectors
  - Management of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
  - Promote urban public transport
National Water Mission:
- The National Water Mission aims at conserving water, minimising wastage and ensuring more equitable distribution through integrated water resource management.
National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem:

It reaffirms Adopting appropriate land-use planning and watershed management practices for sustainable development of mountain ecosystems.
- Adopting best practices for infrastructure construction in mountain regions to avoid or minimise damage to sensitive ecosystems and despoiling of landscapes.
National Mission for a Green India:
- This Mission aims to enhance ecosystem services such as carbon sinks.
- It builds on the Prime Minister’s Green India campaign for afforestation of 6 million hectares and the national target of increasing the land area under forest cover from 23% to 33%.
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture:
- The aim is to make Indian agriculture more resilient to climate change by identifying new varieties of crops, especially thermal resistant ones and alternative cropping patterns.
National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change:
- This Mission strives to work with the global community in research and technology development and collaboration through a variety of mechanisms and, in addition, will also have its research agenda supported by a network of dedicated climate change related institutions and universities and a Climate Research Fund.

Pic Courtesy : NASA

Content Source: The Indian Express.