India’s progress on its climate targets
Context
India’s climate commitments are rooted in the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) under the Paris Agreement.
Although India’s per capita emissions remain low, it is currently the third-largest emitter in absolute terms due to scale of population and growth.
India’s quantified climate commitments (Paris, 2015)
India committed to four major targets (baseline: 2005):
Reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 33–35% by 2030
Achieve 40% non-fossil fuel power capacity by 2030
(later enhanced to 50% by 2030)Install 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022
Create an additional forest carbon sink of 2.5–3 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent by 2030
Emissions intensity: major achievement, limited impact
Achievements
Emissions intensity reduced by ~36% by 2020, achieving the target a decade early.
Drivers:
Rapid expansion of non-fossil power capacity
Structural shift towards services and digital economy
Energy efficiency schemes:
Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT)
UJALA LED programme
Limitation: incomplete decoupling
GDP growth > emissions growth, leading to lower intensity.
Absolute emissions remain high (~2,959 MtCO₂e in 2020).
Sectoral divergence:
Power sector emissions growth moderated
Cement, steel and transport emissions continue to rise
Key concept:
India has achieved relative decoupling, not absolute decoupling.
Renewable energy: capacity vs generation gap
Installed capacity progress
Non-fossil capacity:
~29.5% (2015) → ~51% (June 2025)
Solar:
~2.8 GW (2014) → ~110.9 GW (mid-2025)
Wind:
~21 GW → ~51.3 GW
Structural gap
Renewables supply only ~22% of electricity generation (2024-25) despite >50% capacity.
Reasons:
Low capacity factors of solar and wind
Intermittency
Lack of large-scale storage
Coal remains dominant:
~240–253 GW coal-based capacity
Provides continuous baseload power
70% of electricity generation
Energy storage: critical bottleneck
Projected storage demand (2029-30): ~336 GWh (by Central Electricity Authority)
Operational storage (Sept 2025): ~500 MWh
Implication:
Renewable capacity alone cannot displace coal
Storage, transmission upgrades and grid integration are essential
Missed and revised targets
175 GW renewable target (2022): missed
500 GW by 2030: technically feasible but requires:
Faster storage deployment
Stronger grid connectivity
Land acquisition reforms
Policy coordination across States
Forest carbon sink: numbers vs ecology
Official progress
India State of Forest Report 2023:
Total carbon stock: ~30.43 billion tonnes CO₂e
Additional sink since 2005: ~2.29 billion tonnes
Only ~0.2 billion tonnes remaining to meet target
Structural concerns
Forest Survey of India definition of forest cover:
Any land >1 hectare with >10% canopy
Includes plantations, monocultures, orchards, roadside trees
Forest cover increase (2021–23): only 156 sq km
Governance issues
Compensatory Afforestation Fund:
~₹95,000 crore accumulated
Poor utilisation in several States
Green India Mission (Revised, 2025):
Focus on plantations equated with regeneration
Risk of prioritising carbon accounting over biodiversity
Climate stress and ecosystem limits
Satellite “greening” indicators do not fully reflect:
Net primary productivity
Carbon assimilation under heat and water stress
Vulnerable regions:
Western Ghats
Northeastern India
Core challenges ahead
Translate intensity reduction into absolute emissions moderation
Develop a transparent coal phase-down roadmap
Scale battery and pumped storage rapidly
Strengthen grid connectivity and transmission
Reform forest governance for biodiversity outcomes
Improve data transparency across sectors and regions
Prelims practice MCQs
Q. With reference to India’s climate commitments made under the Paris Agreement, consider the following statements:
India committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33–35% by 2030 from 2005 levels.
India committed to achieving absolute reductions in total greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
India committed to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5–3 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent through forests.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Correct answer: (b)
Explanation:
India’s commitment was intensity-based, not an absolute emissions reduction target.
The forest carbon sink commitment of 2.5–3 billion tonnes is explicitly part of India’s NDC.
Q. India achieved its emissions intensity reduction target ahead of schedule mainly due to:
Expansion of non-fossil electricity capacity
Structural shift of the economy towards services
Efficiency schemes such as PAT and UJALA
Decline in absolute coal consumption
Which of the above factors are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 1 and 4 only
(c) 2 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Correct answer: (a)
Explanation:
The article highlights energy mix change, economic restructuring, and efficiency programmes.
Absolute coal consumption has not declined, making statement 4 incorrect.
Q. The term “incomplete (or partial) decoupling” in India’s climate context refers to:
(a) Reduction in emissions without economic growth
(b) Economic growth occurring with a fall in total emissions
(c) Decline in emissions intensity despite continued growth in absolute emissions
(d) Complete separation of GDP growth from energy consumption
Correct answer: (c)
Explanation:
India’s GDP has grown faster than emissions, reducing intensity, but absolute emissions remain high.