China News Service, November 3rd. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a goal that the country will reach zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2070.
So, as the world's third largest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter, can India achieve its emission reduction targets?
In this regard, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) issued a statement on the 2nd that India’s commitment was much later than many other countries that participated in the Glasgow Climate Summit, and pointed out that with the rapid population growth and the heavy economic dependence on coal and oil, India’s carbon Emissions are expected to be on a steep upward trajectory unless radical action is taken to stop the upward trend.
Data map: Indian Prime Minister Modi.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Du Yang
What are India’s emission reduction commitments?
The BBC stated that India has always resisted setting an overall emission reduction target, claiming that industrialized countries should bear more because they emit more greenhouse gases in the long run.
India stated that the "emission intensity" target reflects a country's economic growth, which is a fairer way to compare it with other countries.
Modi said that by 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy to 45%. Previously, India's goal was to achieve a carbon emission intensity reduction of 33%-35% from 2005 levels by 2030.
However, a decline in carbon intensity does not necessarily mean that overall emissions will decrease.
India’s relatively rapid economic growth in recent years has mainly been driven by its dependence on fossil fuels, which is also the country’s main source of greenhouse gases.
Secondly, the Prime Minister of India promised to increase non-fossil fuel energy generation to 500 gigawatts by 2030.
This is an ambitious goal, because its current power generation in this area is only about 100 gigawatts, and it has set its own goal to reach 175 gigawatts next year.
In addition, in 2015, India promised to provide 40% of its electricity from non-fossil fuels by 2030.
Modi has now substantially increased this number to a bolder 50%.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) data, in 2019, this number is about 23%.
Cindy Baxter of the Climate Action Tracking Group (CAT) said that developing countries like India need international support to decarbonize their economies and complete the Paris Climate Agreement to increase the temperature. Control the target within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"India has no plans to decarbonize," Baxter said, "nor does it have a conditional target to determine in which areas it needs support, or even how much support it needs."
Data map: On May 20, local time, the Yamuna River, the longest tributary of the Ganges, in New Delhi, the capital of India, was heavily polluted and the river was covered by toxic white foam.
Are India's forests expanding?
India has repeatedly stressed that it hopes to allow forests to cover one-third of its land.
But it did not give a timetable, and progress was uneven.
Although there is a reforestation plan in the south of India, the northeast has recently lost its forest cover.
India plans to plant enough trees by 2030 to absorb another 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Global Forest Watch, a joint collaboration between the University of Maryland, Google, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), estimates that India lost 18% of its original forest and 5% of its forests between 2001 and 2020 cover.
However, the Indian government's own survey data shows that the forest cover increased by 5.2% between 2001 and 2019.
The report believes that this is because the Global Forest Watch report only counts vegetation higher than 5 meters (16 feet), while India's official statistics are even the density of trees in a specific area.