Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to India on Wednesday morning after setting ambitious  targets for the country at COP26, the 26th  United Nations Climate Change Conference under way in Glasgow, Scotland. While several of the commitments made by Modi were in line with global expectations, at least one was substantively new — India has decided to cut emission by 1 billion tonnes by the year 2030.

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As things stand

This is the first time that India, the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has set itself a target in terms of the absolute level of emission. India’s greenhouse gas emission amounted to 3.3 billion tonnes in 2018 and is expected to rise to over 4 billion tonnes by 2030, according to data from the World Resources Institute.

What this means

India will emit 35-40 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases between 2021 and 2030. Cutting 1 billion tonnes from this number is an ambitious goal and will require urgent action on part of the government. If realised, India will have reduced its absolute level of emission by 2.5-3% in the next nine years.

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One of the biggest challenges to achieving this target is
that India’s power sector depends heavily on coal. Coal satiates nearly 70% of
the country’s power sector’s need. Experts are of the opinion that coal will
continue to fuel India’s growing energy needs.

Prime Minister Modi also set a target for net zero emission at COP26. India has pledged to reach this milestone by 2070. This puts India in league with 70 other nations that have promised to attain net zero emission by the middle of the century. The target, while expected, is vital for keeping global temperatures from rising less than 2°C from the pre-industrial era level.

What is net zero?

Net zero is a stage where a country’s emission is compensated by the absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This can be achieved by creating carbon sinks, primarily through afforestation.

India’s green promises

India made several critical promises on climate action at the COP26 summit, including increasing non-fossil fuel-based energy to 500 GW by 2030, reaching net zero by 2070, meeting 50% of the country’s energy requirements through renewables by 2030, reducing the Indian economy’s carbon dependance to less than 45% by 2030 and reducing projected carbon dioxide emission by 1 billion tonne within the same deadline.