Are India’s promises to Paris climate conference achievable and how?
Answers
Paris Climate Conference or the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. The main agenda of this conference was to address one of the burning topics of today – climatic change and increase in the global temperature. It negotiated the Paris agreement, which aims to encourage nations to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases so as to reduce the climatic change caused by the human activities. The members of the conference have agreed to immediately reduce their carbon output and make all possible efforts to keep global warming well below 1.5 degree Celsius.
The Indian Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi represented India and actively participated in the negotiations of the Paris agreement. India promised to reduce 33 to 35 percent of the greenhouse emission intensity and plant more forests by 2030 to absorb carbon emissions. It also pledged to produce about 40% of electricity from renewable sources of energy. Along with the French president, François Hollande, Narendra Modi proposed the creation of an alliance of countries (similar to Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) where solar power can be tapped in abundance and be used instead of conventional sources of energy.
While the Indian promise to Paris climate conference seems like an ambitious goal, it is certainly not unachievable. And since the problem faced – global warming, is so perilous, it certainly demands strong decisions and definitive actions to be taken to combat it. Having vast lands at its disposal, the government of India has already approved a proposed legislation to manage a huge afforestation fund in order to plant trees for almost 140,000km along both sides of the national highways and create a carbon sink. Plans to increase the renewable energy generation capacity are already in their inception stage. It will definitely take a dedicated effort and huge sums of money from India to keep its promises made in the Paris conference. But with proper planning and undeterred determination, it should not be a herculean task to accomplish.