India is doing far better to address the issue of Climate Change: MoS Ashwini Choubey

New Delhi: Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey has said the climate change is global issues and India is not part of the problem but the solution and is doing more than its fair share.

“India with more than 17 per cent of the global population has contributed only about 4 Percent of the global cumulative greenhouse gas emissions between 1850 and 2019” the Minister said a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

Calling the Climate change is a global collective action problem, Mr Choubey said, “Challenges faced due to global warming are mainly due to cumulative historical and current greenhouse gas emissions of the developed countries”.

The Minister said under the Paris Agreement in 2015, India had submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) balancing the concerns and priorities of climate change and sustainable development.

Mr Choubey said that at COP27, India emphasized that all countries should have equitable access to the global carbon budget, for keeping temperature increase within the limits set by the Paris Agreement (PA), adding that all countries must stay within their fair share of this global carbon budget while using it responsibly.

“India also underlined that the transfer of climate finance and low-cost climate technologies have become more important for the implementation of climate actions by developing countries” he informed.

India is a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, its Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.

In August 2022, India updated its NDC according to which India has an enhanced target to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 45 percent by 2030 from 2005 level, achieve about 50 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.

Further, in November 2022, India has submitted its Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy.

India’s long term strategy rests on seven key transitions to low-carbon development pathways.

“One of these transitions will focus on promoting Adaptation in Urban Design, Energy and Material-Efficiency in Buildings, and Sustainable Urbanisation” he said.

Mr Choubey said that Government is implementing several programmes and schemes including the National Action Plan on Climate Change(NAPCC) which comprises missions in specific areas of solar energy, energy efficiency, water, sustainable agriculture, Himalayan ecosystem.

Thirty-four States /Union Territories (UTs) have prepared and some have updated their StateAction Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) in line with NAPCC taking into account the State-specific issues relating to climate change.

These SAPCCs outline sector-specific and cross-sectoral priority actions, including adaptation and climate resilient infrastructure.

The National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) was established to support adaptation activities in the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

NAFCC is implemented in project mode and till date, 30 projects have been sanctioned in 27 States and UTs. As a result of various actions undertaken, India has achieved reduction of 24% in emission intensity of its GDP between 2005 and 2016.

For protecting Costal Zone, the Minister said, Government has implemented Integrated Coastal Zone Management project (ICZMP) that has contributed, inter-alia, mapping of hazard line, Eco-sensitive Area, Sediment cell for the entire coastline of India.

The hazard line is indicative of the shoreline changes, including the sea level rise due to climate change and is a projection of impact due to sea level rise, and shoreline changes over a long period of time viz. over 100 years.

“This line is required to be used by the Coastal State agencies concerned as a tool for Disaster Management for the coastal environment, including planning of adaptive and mitigation measures” he said.