Cabinet Approves Ratification Of Paris Climate Agreement

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved ratification of India's commitments under the Paris Climate Change Pact for reducing emissions and reworking the energy mix till 2030.

Under its declaration, India has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions intensity — the ratio between a country's gross emissions to its gross domestic product at a particular point — by 33-35 percent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. To that effect, India has committed to achieving about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources. These targets are called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs.

India aims to harness wind, solar, biomass, hydropower and nuclear power sources for clean energy generation. The target for nuclear power generation stands at 63 GW of installed capacity by the year 2032 versus the existing 5780 MW capacity of power generation. India also aims to implement 'clean coal policies' to lower emissions from existing coal based power plants.

Union Cabinet Minister, Prakash Javadekar told journalists at a press briefing that India will officially submit its assent for ratification to the United Nations on October 2, 2016. He said, "India had submitted its INDCs to the UN on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, and we will submit the official assent for ratification on the same date this year."

"With this decision, India will be one of the key countries that will be instrumental in bringing the Paris Agreement into force," the government said in a statement. Under the Paris Climate Change agreement, UN member countries committed to reducing their dependence on fossil fuels to curtail global warming and lower carbon emissions.