India has gone up by two spots – from ten to eight—this year in the climate change performance index (CCPI) tabulated by a Europe-based consortium. The rating also says that India is on track to meet its 2030 emissions targets.

The Germany-based CCPI, an independent monitoring tool for tracking countries’ climate protection performance, says that India is among the high performing countries in the Greenhouse gas emissions and Energy Use categories.

Responding to the report, India Narrative spoke with Dr Anjal Prakash, Research Director and adjunct associate professor at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business, who said: “all of our policies are compatible with Net Zero…Also, we are doing well in the new and renewable energy sources and we are transitioning very fast to the new sources of energy”.

“Our carbon footprint is lower despite the fact that we are aiming for a $5 trillion economy,” he added.

Prakash pointed out that with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself promising Net Zero emissions by 2070, the country has set ambitious targets but meeting those targets will not be that easy.

#India climbed two spots to rank eighth out of 63 in the CCPI 2023, thanks to its low emissions and the increasing use of #renewable #energy. https://t.co/UHYyA16o2F via @ndtv #RenewableEnergy #EnergyTransition #EnergyEfficiency #Power #Renewables

— IGEF (@IGEFSO) November 16, 2022

One of the major shifts that Indian climate governance has to witness is better coordination between the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change with other ministries as climate change is a cross cutting issue, says Prakash, adding that the country needs to bring in people into climate change policy from diverse sectors like social development, transport, construction and rural development.

Dr. Prakash says that India’s climate policy can be further strengthened through capacity building of administrators at the district level as climate change is a local problem influenced by global factors. Here we need a series of training sessions for officials at the level of District Magistrates as the last mile implementation is still eluding the country.

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