PANCHAMRIT/ INTENDED NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTIONS

WHY IN NEWS:

Climate change and India’s energy transition

WHAT IS INTENDED NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTIONS

• Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of its long-term goals.
• The Paris Agreement(Article 4, paragraph 2) requires each Party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that it intends to achieve.
• NDCs are submitted every five years to the UNFCCC secretariat.
• Parties are requested to submit the next round of NDCs (new NDCs or updated NDCs) by 2020 and every five years thereafter (e.g. by 2020, 2025, 2030),

INDIA’S PREVIOUS NDC

Earlier, India submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to UNFCCC on October 2, 2015.

 India’s first pledge had three primary targets:

 (a) Reduce emissions intensity of the economy by 33–35% below 2005 levels; 

(b) Have 40% of installed electric power from non-fossil-based energy resources by 2030; 

(c) Create an additional (cumulative) carbon sink of 2.5-3 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2030 through additional forest and tree cover.

INDIA’S PANCHAMRIT

India at the 26^th  session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Glasgow, United Kingdom, expressed to intensify its climate action by presenting to the world five nectar elements (Panchamrit) of India’s climate action

(a) India will increase its non-fossil fuel energy capacity to 500 gigawatt (GW) by 2030; 

(b) It will meet 50% of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030; 

(c) The total projected carbon emissions will be reduced by 1 billion tonnes from now through 2030; 

(d) The carbon intensity of its economy will be brought down to less than 45% from 2005 levels; 

(e) India will achieve its target of Net Zero by 2070.