NEW DELHI: India will not be able to reduce global warming by 2 degrees Celsius by 2030 as envisaged in the landmark Paris Agreement due to gaps between the projections and the current policies of the government aimed at achieving it, according to a new report.
The 2016 Paris Agreement’s aim is to strengthen the global response to climate change by restricting the rise in global temperature this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The ‘Brown to Green Report’ has been compiled by Climate Transparency — a global partnership of 14 climate research organisations and NGOs from the majority of G20 countries, with many from emerging economies. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is the country partner for India.
The report draws on the latest emissions data from 2017 and covers 80 indicators on decarbonisation, climate policies, finance and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.
Based on implemented policies, India’s green house gas emissions are expected to increase to a level of 4,469-4,570 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030.
“This emission pathway is not compatible with a 2 C scenario. India’s sectoral policies are still falling short of being consistent with the Paris Agreement, but the country’s ambitious policy on renewable electricity is a promising sign,” the study said.
The country will not be able to reduce global warming by 2 degrees Celsius by 2030 as envisaged in the Paris Agreement, due to gaps between the projections and the current policies of the government aimed at achieving it, it said.
Its climate actions are judged to be ambitious. The nationally-determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement is deemed to be within the range of an appropriate contribution from India to limiting warming to less than 2 degrees, the study said.
“Particular highlights from India include its extremely ambitious 175 GW target for renewables capacity by 2022, its very high level of energy efficiency of the overall Indian economy, and new sector-specific policies such as the national cooling action plan,” it added. PTI