India among few big economies on track to meet climate pledges: Bhupender Yadav

New Delhi: India has set an example with its robust domestic climate action and stands among the few major economies on track to meet their national plans to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Friday.

In his opening address at the environment ministers' session at the second Voice of Global South Summit, Yadav highlighted India's active role in the fight against climate change, despite its historically minimal contribution to global warming.

The minister said India's current per capita greenhouse gas emissions are less than one-third of the global average.

He emphasised that developed countries are yet to fulfil their commitments to providing sufficient climate finance to developing nations to address climate-change impacts.

Yadav reminded the developed countries of their commitment to mobilising USD 100 billion annually by 2020 for climate finance and doubling their contribution to adaptation finance from the 2019 level by 2025.

He said 44 per cent of India's total installed electricity-generating capacity now comes from non-fossil fuel sources, surpassing the original NDC target of 40 per cent by 2030.

Yadav highlighted India's adoption of the green credit programme, designed to incentivise voluntary environmental and climate-conscious actions by individuals as well as public and private entities, aimed at accelerating collective efforts toward achieving a sustainable economy.

India, with 17 per cent of the global population, accounted for only 4 per cent of global carbon emissions from 1850 until 2019. In contrast, the developed nations, with the same percentage of the global population, contribute nearly 60 per cent of global carbon emissions.

Last August, India updated its nationally-determined contributions (NDC), committing to reducing the emission intensity of the GDP by 45 per cent by 2030 from the 2005 level and achieving 50 per cent cumulative electric power-installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.