The Paris Agreement and India

The Paris Agreement was signed and welcomed by 196 parties and finally came into official force in 2016. The entire ordeal on the signing of the Paris Agreement was based on its specific objective to limit the temperatures of global warming to around 1.5 degrees Celsius and to combat climate change. Through the signing and enforcement of the Paris Agreement, it was believed that civil society organisations, the private sector, and national, local, and regional bodies would come together and work towards the achievement of such objectives. 

The Paris Agreement serves as a landmark step in looking into and working on the issues, effects, and solutions to climate change. This is because it was the very first time that there was a binding agreement that brought countries from all over the world together to face a common cause and fight climate change collectively. 

Understanding the Paris Agreement

According to the Paris Agreement, every country that is a part of the agreement is expected to project and submit reports on their respective plans and contributions to their different approaches and actions on climate change. The Paris Agreement consists of various aims that are expected to be fulfilled by each member country under the Agreement. 

Some of the aims and objectives are:

1) To maintain the temperature of global warming under 2 degrees celsius and further lay efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees celsius. 

2) To  increase the ability of the nations as well as their people to deal with the effects of climate change.

3)  Looking into financially viable and sustainable steps to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

4) Enhancing the ability of social ecosystems to cope with dangerous trends or changes  also called climate resilience. 

The Paris Agreement is a landmark change that demands social and economic transformations by several member countries. It is a signed deal among several nations that functions on a 5-year scheme where all countries must come up with solutions and methods to climate action in a span of every five years since its signing in the year 2015. 

The Paris Agreement acts in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or more popularly known as the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. Originally it was the Kyoto Protocol that looked into taking necessary action on climate change and emissions of greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or the UNFCCC is the backbone of the Paris Agreement. The UNFCCC emerged as a world organisation with several member countries that looked into climate action and the human interaction that affected climate change and the greenhouse effect.

India and the Paris Agreement 

India is one of several signatories to the Paris Agreement under the rules and bounds of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, popularly known as the UNFCCC. India also stands as one of the most significant and relevant signatories of the Paris Agreement. India is also one of the nation-states or member countries under the Paris Agreement to have duly, adequately, and efficiently reached their agendas or goals. 

In 2018, under the Modi government, India came up with a climate action plan of its own with specified and targeted goals and agendas. In accordance with and under the treaty of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as the Kyoto Protocol, India came up with a comprehensive framework to its response to climate action under a legal and institutional framework.

Although five years down the line, India missed its deadline  in October, 2021 to submit its renewed report on its climate action plans as a country. India was  ready and has come up with new strategies as well as methods in dealing with climate action change and climate action plan. Due to the fact that India had missed its deadline, the Prime Minister has decided to reveal the country’s new plan on climate action at the Glasgow meeting at the next Conference of Parties or the COP26.

India’s New Climate Action Plan – A five-year leap 

After a gap of five years due to the five-year cycle of the Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, on the landmark occasion of the fifth-anniversary celebration of the Paris Agreement back in the year 2020, which was a virtual summit due to the crisis of the coronavirus, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was given the duty of addressing the panel or the summit. 

During this virtual summit, India came up with steps and agendas for their renewed climate action plan. India’s commitment to the Paris Agreement was a massive success after meeting all of the original agenda goals when the Paris Agreement came into existence. India has always seemed to be one of the top countries in fulfilling the Paris Agreement and in the narrative of climate action plans. 

Some of the new climate action steps or solutions were taken by India in the virtual Paris Agreement summit of the year 2020. These involved the following aspects:

• India does not seem to be just meeting the basic requirements of the original Paris Agreement. Still, it looks like the country is aiming to exceed these requirements in a so-called comprehensive and holistic manner in the matter of climate action or climate change. 
• In the renewed agenda, it is also stated that the country of India aims to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by the year 2030. 
• During census and research analysis that had taken place in the country before the summit, it was noted that India had only 3% of historical emissions that acted as the main cause of climate change, thus proving that India was never part of the problem but would still stand and play its role as part of the solution.
• Even today, India’s contribution to global world emissions is only an approximate 6.8%
• As stated in the Paris Agreement, India has maintained a Nationally Determined Contribution or NDC at 2 degrees celsius and looks into exceeding or overachieving these contributions. 
• The present government has also brought about a majority of schemes in the country that aim at climate control and climate action. 
• India has also increased its renewable energy capacity in the past five years to 89GW. It aims to reach a target of 450GW, which will be installed as renewable energy in the country. 

Conclusion

Although India’s climate action is suddenly becoming inefficient as indicated by current sources and reports, India still seems to play a significant role in the Paris Agreement. It seems to continue to remain an essential part of further G20 summits and agreements.