INDC

Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs, are publically declared country commitments indicating the actions each country would take under a global agreement.

Salient features of India’s INDC:

• To put forward and further propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation.
• To adopt a climate-friendly and a cleaner path than the one followed hitherto by others at corresponding level of economic development.
• To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level.
• To achieve about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030, with the help of transfer of technology and low cost international finance, including from Green Climate Fund.

India’s INDC centre around the country’s policies and programmes for: 

1. Sustainable Lifestyles:
   • Living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation.
2. Cleaner Economic Development: 
   • At corresponding level of economic development.
3. Reducing Emission intensity of Gross Domestic Product: 
   • To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level.
4. Increasing the Share of Non Fossil Fuel Based Electricity.
5. Enhancing Carbon Sink: 
   • To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
6. Adaptation: 
   • To better adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in development programmes in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly
     1. agriculture,
     2. water resources,
     3. Himalayan region,
     4. coastal regions,
     5. health
     6. Disaster management.
7. Mobilizing Finance: 
   • To mobilize domestic and new & additional funds from developed countries .
8. Technology Transfer and Capacity Building: 
   • To build capacities,
     1. create domestic framework and
     2. international architecture for quick diffusion of cutting edge climate technology in India and
   • for joint collaborative R&D for such future technologies.

Methods of financing for meeting the objectives of India’s INDC:

1. As per estimates, at least USD 2.5 trillion (at current prices) required between now and 2030 to implement all planned actions.
   • USD 206 million required for adaptation actions. Much more needed for strengthening resilience and disaster management.
   • About USD 834 billion, at 2011 prices, required for mitigation actions till 2030.
2. A total of INR 170.84 billion collected through cess on coal production. Being used for funding clean energy projects
3. National Clean Energy Fund
   • funded through an initial carbon tax on use of coal by industries.
4. National Adaptation Fund 
   • With initial allocation of Rs 3500 million.
5. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM): 
   • It allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2.
   • The CDM is the main source of income for the UNFCCC Adaptation Fund.
6. In February  2015,  at  the  RE-Invest  renewable  energy  financing  event  hosted  by  the  Indian  government, the  MNRE  invited  public  and  private  corporate  and  financial  firms  to  invest  in  the  country’s  renewable energy  sector  in  the five-year  period  from  2015-2019.
7. Tax free infrastructure bonds of INR 50 billion being introduced for funding renewable energy projects
8. The CAMPA act passed helps use the money collected under compensatory afforestation funds.
9. Polluter Pays: 
   • The ‘polluters pays’ principle is the commonly accepted practice according to which those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent damage to human health or the environment.
   • This principle underpins most of the regulation of pollution affecting land, water and air formally known as the 1992 Rio Declaration.

Other feasible measures:

• Green Bonds: Bonds issued to raise money especially for Green projects.
• Creation of Renewable Energy Investment Trusts as in UK.
• Incorporating renewable  energy  within  Priority  Sector  Lending requirements
• Public-private partnership (PPP) and PPP People (PPPP) can help improving climate finance.

Conclusion:

An analytical framework is necessary to combine potential climate risks with a systematic cost- benefit analysis. Favourable policy and institutional actions are important for successful introduction or scaling up of financial instruments. Climate finance should be equipped with non-institutional financial services such as market funds, private etc.