COP27: India Undertaking 'Arduous Effort' Despite Accounting For Less Than 4% Of World's Emissions, Environment Minister Says

COP27: Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav also said India has embarked on new initiatives in renewable energy, e-mobility, ethanol-blended fuels and green hydrogen as alternative energy sources.

COP27: India is undertaking an arduous effort to fight climate change despite accounting for less than four per cent of the world's cumulative emissions so far, and despite the country's annual per capita emissions being about one-third of the global average, Bhupendra Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change said Tuesday. 

Yadav, while delivering the national statement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt, said that India responded to the call for increased ambition in the 2030 climate targets and updated its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in August, news agency PTI reported. NDC is a climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts, and must be established by each Party to the Paris Agreement, and updated every five years. 

Yadav also said India has embarked on new initiatives in renewable energy, e-mobility, ethanol-blended fuels and green hydrogen as alternative energy sources. 

India has launched action- and solution-oriented coalitions such as the International Solar Alliance and Coalition of Disaster Resilience Infrastructure to foster strong international cooperation, Yadav said. 

"This is a testimony to our ethos of collective action for global good," Yadav added.

India releases strategies to reach net zero by 2070

On November 14, India released its Long-Term Low Emissions and Development Strategies (LT-LEDS) at COP27. The LT-LEDS state the steps India will take to achieve net zero by 2070. 

All countries are required to submit reports showing how they will achieve the Paris Agreement's goal. The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change signed in 2015 at COP21 in Paris, has the goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. Countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve the long-term temperature goal. This will help achieve a climate-neutral world by mid-century.