Climate Change Mitigation Challenges and Strategies for Achieving Net Zero Emissions in India

Abstract

Climate change is a global collective action problem, which is primarily caused due to combination of the current Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and the historical cumulative GHG emissions, contributed mainly by the developed countries. Even though India’s per capita GHG emission is minimal, India is committed to addressing the challenge with firm adherence to multilateralism, keeping in mind the national circumstances and based on equity and the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC), as enshrined in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Developed countries have to take lead in reducing their GHG emissions and by providing finance, technology and capacity building support to developing countries. The continuous increase in the global mean-surface temperature due to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and the noticeable adverse impact of global warming across the world, have resulted in high incidences of disasters and vulnerability of human beings. In this context, the manuscript describes India's updated Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) targets submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in August 2022, and provides a detailed analysis of the progress made so far to reduce global warming and the major concerning issues. It provides an in-depth analysis of the achievements vis-à-vis the more inclusive global Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranking 2024 from the overall environmental scenario. The way forward has been suggested based on the policy analysis of climate change and personal opinion. It concludes that though India has done remarkably well in achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets in containing and mitigating the rise of greenhouse gases, it also requires to address the root cause of the problem such as high population along with the other social issues such as lack of awareness, public participation, and environmental responsibility for improvement in global ranking from the overall environmental perspective.