International flow of funds for climate actions is highly inadequate: Economic Survey

New Delhi: India’s total expenditure related to adaptation touched at 5.6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an increase from 3.7 per cent in FY16, said the Economic Survey 2025, reflecting the growing importance of building climate resilience, said the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Friday.

The survey underscored that the international flow of funds for climate actions is highly “inadequate and has a mitigation bias”

It also highlighted the “unwillingness” of developed nation to address emission reduction and mitigate climate change impacts on vulnerable populations in developing regions.

The Economic Survey tabled by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said said establishing a small mobilisation target of $300 billion annually by 2035 is a fraction of the estimated requirement of $5.1-6.8 trillion by 2030.

“It is out of sync with the needs of the critical decade when action is required to keep the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement within reach. The decision demonstrates a significant misalignment with the Paris Agreement’s mandate to demonstrate a ‘progression beyond previous efforts’ by developed countries”.

The Survey said, “India is the seventh most vulnerable country to climate change. It have to bear a disproportionate burden of climate change and have no choice but to face the climate change consequence of historical emissions”.

The Survey also talked about the step taken to mitigate the climate change saying, “India’s efforts in mitigation have been ambitious.”

“India has successfully established an installed electricity generation capacity of 213,701 megawatts from non-fossil fuel sources, which accounts for 46.8 per cent of the total capacity as of 30 November 2024. The goal is to reach 50 per cent by 2030”.

India’s NDC aims to increase the carbon sinks by 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through improvement and addition of tree cover by 2030. As per the latest Forest Survey of India 2024, India is estimated to have a total carbon sink of 30.43 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2023, as compared to 2005, when the carbon sink was estimated to be 28.14 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

The addition to the carbon sink between 2005 and 2023 is of 2.29 billion tonnes CO2 equivalent, closer to the NDC target. Based on the trends, the FSI projects a carbon sink of 31.71 billion tonnes in 2030, which would even surpass the NDC target of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

The Economy Survey said to accomplish the goal of net zero emissions by 2070 will require innovative strategies and robust implementation plans designed to confront both the challenges posed by climate change and the need for sustainable development to take centre stage.

India’s ambition to achieve developed nation status by 2047 is fundamentally anchored in the vision of inclusive and sustainable development, it said. The survey noted that India’s per capita carbon emissions are one-third of the global average, even as it stands among the world’s fastest-growing economies.

” The country is dedicated to identifying and exploring pathways for low-carbon development that simultaneously ensure affordable energy security, job creation, economic growth, and environmental sustainability” It said.