India is all set to submit its 'climate action plan' within UN deadline

BERLIN: India will on Thursday submit its post-2020 'climate action plan' to a UN body in Bonn, specifying what the country will do to fight the threat of climate change. Hours after its submission within the 'informal' deadline of October 1, the country will announce the plan on Friday (October 2) -- coinciding it with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Aligning its 'Green India' pledge with 'Clean India' mission, the country will tell the world on the occasion of 'Gandhi Jayanti' as what all the 'father of the nation' had advocated for preserving the nature through sustainable lifestyle and mindful consumption when the world had not even touched the issue of climate change and global warming.

READ ALSO: US-China climate change deal puts heat on India

The 'Climate Action Plan' of individual country is called the ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contribution’ (INDC) in climate change negotiation parlance.

India's INDC is expected to focus on reducing carbon intensity (carbon emission per unit of GDP) through efficient use of energy, huge drive towards renewable energy sources (solar, wind and bio-mass), massive afforestation drive by unlocking over Rs 38,000 crore for this purpose, development of efficient public transport system across the country and a range of adaptation measures in various fields including agriculture, water resources and waste management.

India in its INDC will also give a detail accounts of what all it has been doing under its various existing climate change action plan missions in different fields to voluntarily fulfil its pre-2020 action to fight climate change at the time and during the period when such actions are mandatory only for rich industrialised nations - the historical polluters like the US, Japan, Australia and European Union (EU) countries.

All 196 member countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are expected to submit their climate action plan by October 1, specifying how they will act in their individual capacity to check global warming and fight menace of climate change under a post-2020 agreement.

In all, 115 countries, including the world's top three polluters (China, US and EU), have so far submitted their respective INDCs to the UNFCCC. Since the October 1 is an 'informal' deadline, many countries will submit it beyond the deadline in the next couple of weeks.

These INDCs, comprising mitigation (emission cut promises) and adaptation measures, will form the basis of climate negotiations in Paris during 'conference of parties' (COP21) in November-December.

The world is expected to come out with a global climate deal after the negotiation (COP21) in Paris in December, deciding what the 196 countries will do in their respective individual capacities post-2020 to save the world from disastrous consequences of climate change.

READ ALSO: Gujarat techie to represent India at US climate change meet

India is fourth largest GHG emitter at present after China, US and EU, but it ranks 120th in terms of per-capita emission. India's per-capita emission is significantly low as compared to China, US and the EU nations.

India will not announce its peaking (peak emission) year, unlike China, in its 'climate action plan'. Instead of specifying any timeline to cap its emission of greenhouse gases, the country will, rather, focus more comprehensively on all five key elements which are identified as vital components of global efforts to fight adverse impacts of climate change.

The five elements which will be reflected in India's `climate action plan' are mitigation (emission cut), adaptation, finance, technology transfer and capacity building.