DUBAI: During the high level segment of COP28 at Dubai, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said India firmly believed that equity and climate justice should be the basis of global climate action. This, he said, could be achieved when developed countries take the lead in ambitious climate action.
“India has been at the forefront of supporting action-oriented steps at the global level in response to climate change. Earlier this year, we saw the historic adoption of the Green Development Pact by the G20 nations as part of the New Delhi Declaration,” he said.
Yadav underscored that India, in its endeavour to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, has reduced the emission intensity much ahead of the promised target year as mentioned in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs)- country’s action plan for dealing with the impacts of climate change.
“In our endeavour to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, India has successfully reduced the emission intensity vis-à-vis its GDP by 33% between 2005 and 2019, thus achieving the initial NDC target for 2030, 11 years ahead of the scheduled time. India has also achieved 40% of electric installed capacity through non-fossil fuel sources, nine years ahead of the target for 2030. Between 2017 and 2023, India has added around 100 GW of installed electric capacity, of which around 80% is attributed to non-fossil fuel-based resources,” he said.
Yadav further highlighted that current estimates from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and NGO Oxfam reports vary significantly and create uncertainty about the actual amount of climate finance provided.