India's Intended Nationally Determined Contribution towards mitigation of Climate Change / it's impacts is not at all ambitious as being projected by the authorities. Since India is among the countries that would be severely affected by climate change, any action towards climate change mitigation will be in it's own interest. It must be understood that the percentage of increase in GHG emission from India in recent years is among the highest. The emissions are likely to increase substantially in the near future. We had earlier offered to reduce our emission intensity by 20 -25 percent over 2005 figures, by 2020. Hence the present offer of 33-35 percent reduction in emission intensity (please note that we are not offering to reduce actual emissions) cannot be considered as an improvement over our earlier stand. It must be noted that we have not yet set a target period for peaking our emissions.
The 40 percent target for non-fossil fuel based electricity project installed capacity is tricky. This would include large hydro and nuclear power projects too, which have their own catastrophic socio-ecologicsl impacts.
The intention to increase carbon sink through afforestation , if implemented, is welcome. However, there should first be a firm commitment to conserve existing natural forests.
When we insist on moving ahead with the same development model that has resulted in the environmental issues, including climate change, how can we address this issue?
