India to meet emission reduction goals under Paris climate agreement

Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman has told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that India is on track to achieve its Paris climate agreement goal to drop emissions by 33-35% of its GDP by 2030 from the 2005 level. Sitharaman, in her address to the IMF Committee, said that India barely makes it to the list of top 100 countries in terms of per capita emissions and its per capita energy use is less than half the world average. But, India is all set to reach its Paris Agreement targets - to decrease emissions by 33-35% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030 from the 2005 level; India will likely do better than this goal. The share of non-fossil fuels in electricity production capacity would reach about 60%, over 40%, that India had pledged. Sitharaman said that India has started on the most ambitious renewable energy project in the world aiming at 450 GW by 2030, which can become a game-changer in India's fight against climate change and will assist in securing the world's climate change. Sitharaman said that the difficult challenge for India and the rest of the developing nations is the access to adequate and affordable finance and low-cost technology, which is the support for limiting carbon footprint. The developing nations will need new investments of up to $500 billion yearly by 2030 - to sufficiently restrict their increasing greenhouse gas emissions. These nations will also need an additional several hundred billion dollars to protect themselves from the worsening physical and economic impacts of greenhouse gases. A recent Oxfam Report finds that the true value of support for climate action of $100 billion yearly committed by advanced nations under the Paris Agreement may be as little as $19-22 billion per year, the finance minister added. Image Source Also read: India to achieve Paris Agreement's NDCs limit of 40% power capacity