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India's climate policy: NDCs, net zero and adaptation

India's own climate commitments and plans: its Nationally Determined Contribution and net zero target, the national and State action plans, adaptation from the city to the village, and the forest carbon sink. Prelims has asked about Intended Nationally Determined Contributions.

Showing 3 of 5 subjects, those that changed from 1 to 15 August 2026.Show all

India's Nationally Determined Contribution

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Prelims and Mains

India's climate pledge comes down to three numbers, and they are not travelling together.

  • India's Nationally Determined Contribution sets three targets: one for emission intensity, one for the share of non-fossil electricity capacity, and one for the carbon sink.
  • The pledge filed in 2015 asked for intensity down 33 to 35 per cent and 40 per cent non-fossil capacity; the 2022 update raised these to 45 and about 50 per cent and left the sink target untouched.
  • The 50 per cent non-fossil milestone was reached in June 2025, five years early.
  • Non-fossil capacity counts what is installed, not what is generated, so the share of electricity actually supplied is lower.
  • India reports its progress to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in a Biennial Transparency Report, and sent its first in April 2026.
2030 target
  • Emission intensity of gross domestic product (GDP) down 45 per cent from 2005
  • 50 per cent of installed power capacity non-fossil
  • Additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes CO₂ equivalent
Where India stands
  • Emission intensity down 37.38 per cent by 2022
  • Non-fossil capacity 54.18 per cent on 30 June 2026
  • Additional sink of 2.44 billion tonnes CO₂ equivalent, 2005 to 2022
2035 target
  • Emission intensity down 47 per cent from 2005
  • 60 per cent of installed power capacity non-fossil
  • Carbon sink of 3.5 to 4.0 billion tonnes CO₂ equivalent
From the Rajya Sabha reply of 13 August 2026 and the Press Information Bureau (PIB) release of 10 September 2026

What changed

  1. 13 Aug 2026

    PIB, 13 Aug 2026: NDC progress and the enhanced 2035 targets (opens in a new tab)

  2. 27 Jul 2026Update

    • The enhanced targets for 2035 are a 47 per cent cut in the emissions intensity of GDP from the 2005 level, 60 per cent of installed electricity capacity from non fossil sources, and an additional carbon sink of 3.5 to 4.0 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
    • The non fossil share of installed capacity crossed 50 per cent in June 2025, five years early, and stood at 54.18 per cent on 30 June 2026.
    • Implementation runs through the nine missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, and progress is reported through Biennial Transparency Reports under Article 13 of the Paris Agreement.

    PIB, 27 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: INDIA’s NDC TARGETS (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 6 Jul 2026: Gram panchayats remain outside climate planning even as India's revised climate targets need local delivery (opens in a new tab)

UPSC has asked

  • Prelims 2016: Intended Nationally Determined Contributions

The forest carbon sink

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Prelims and Mains

A sink is credited only where it can be demonstrated, so the way India measures its forests decides what it is able to report.

  • The sink target is an additional store of carbon in forest and tree cover, counted from 2005 and reported in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
  • The Forest Survey of India (FSI) assesses forest and tree resources every two years and publishes the India State of Forest Report.
  • Because forest cover is counted by canopy rather than by origin, a plantation and a natural forest enter the figure alike.
  • At an FSI workshop the Environment Minister tied the enhanced 2035 sink target to how forests are measured, and asked for new assessment technology.
  • The Green India Mission and Nagar Van Yojana are among the schemes through which the Centre supports States in raising cover.

What changed

  1. 10 Sep 2026

    PIB, 10 Sep 2026: Union Environment Minister inaugurates National Workshop on 'Leveraging Latest Technologies in Assessment of Forest and Tree Resources', in New Delhi (opens in a new tab)

  2. 13 Aug 2026Updatenewly added

    • Approved offset methods under India's carbon market now include afforestation of degraded mangrove habitat and improved rice cultivation, and 4,391 hectares of degraded forest land in twelve States had been identified under the Green Credit Programme by March 2026.
    • The India State of Forest Report 2023 puts forest and tree cover at 25.17 per cent of the country, made up of 21.76 per cent forest cover and 3.41 per cent tree cover.
    • No shared register stops the same land being counted for a carbon project, a green credit, compensatory afforestation and a restoration scheme at once.

    Mains: a quantified sink pledge needs a record of land, parcel by parcel, that does not yet exist.

    Frontline, 13 Aug 2026: India's NDC for 2031-35 commits to a forest and tree cover carbon sink of 3.5 to 4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2035, while the data needed to verify it does not yet exist. (opens in a new tab)

See also: MISHTI · The Green India Mission

Heat Action Plans

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Prelims and Mains

Extreme heat is met city by city rather than nationally, which is at once the strength of the instrument and its limit.

  • Heat Action Plans are what India actually uses against extreme heat, written city by city and district by district.
  • The National Disaster Management Authority's (NDMA) guidelines of 2019 ask a city to assess what drives its urban heat island effect and to write the fixes into its plan.
  • They now run across 23 States, 195 districts and 64 cities.
  • An advisory on informal workers recommends shaded vending zones, drinking water points, cooling centres and flexible working hours.
  • Heat falls hardest on those who work outdoors, which is the burden a plan written city by city has to reach.
  • The India Cooling Action Plan sits alongside, pushing energy efficient buildings and refrigerants of low global warming potential in vehicle air conditioning.

What changed

  1. 3 Aug 2026

    PIB, 3 Aug 2026: Heat Action Plans and urban heat (opens in a new tab)

See also: Notified natural calamities