Finally, India has unveiled its Climate Action Plan for 2030. It is a sensible but challenging policy, aiming to fulfill its commitments without undermining the country’s economic development. It has refused to give way to global pressure so that its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) can be achievable. The three components of this goal are, first, to cut emissions by 33% to 35% by 2030. The proposed cuts should be welcomed. Moreover, India expects to generate 40% of its power from non-fossil fuel-based sources so that it can absorb 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. Strengthening INDC would enable India to press for a fairer distribution of responsibilities between developed and developing countries at the Paris meeting. India believes that affluent nations should do more to fight a threat of its own making.
To achieve even reasonable targets, India faces formidable challenges. Widening the forest cover would create fears in this country about the availability of agricultural land. Afforestation schemes attach great importance to trees which have considerable ecological value. It helps significantly in precipitating rain and the country’s agriculture depends very much on a good monsoon. But the country views it only as a source of income. The Compensatory Afforestation Bill assumes that it would recreate the complicated and layered forest system. Furthermore, renewable energy which is very much on the blueprint is costly. The infrastructure for it is still inadequate and the public have not yet warmed up to it. So, while the big picture is encouraging, a great many glitches remain to be removed.
