UPSC Mains 2021 GS Paper 3 Q17: model answer
Describe the major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). What are the commitments made by India in this conference?
What the question wants
Describe the main outcomes of COP26 in Glasgow and the commitments India made there.
How to structure it
Outcomes, India's Panchamrit, assessment.
- Context
- Major outcomes
- India's commitments
- Assessment
How to think it through
COP26 Glasgow, Oct–Nov 2021, UK presidency. Glasgow Climate Pact: keep 1.5°C alive; 'phase down' unabated coal and phase out inefficient fossil subsidies (India's amendment); revisit NDCs in 2022; double adaptation finance by 2025 (from 2019); Article 6 rulebook finalised; transparency framework; Santiago Network for loss and damage technical; Global Methane Pledge (India did not join); Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests; GFANZ; IRIS, GGI-OSOWOG. India: Panchamrit — 500 GW non-fossil capacity by 2030; 50% energy requirement from renewables by 2030; reduce projected emissions by 1 bn t by 2030; emissions intensity cut 45% from 2005 by 2030; net zero by 2070. LiFE Mission. Updated NDC Aug 2022 formalised two of these.
Model answer
In the final hours of COP26 in Glasgow (November 2021), India and China pushed to change one word in the final text: coal was to be 'phased down', not 'phased out'. The COP President apologised in tears. That moment captured both what Glasgow achieved and what it could not.
Major outcomes
- Glasgow Climate Pact: keep the 1.5°C goal alive and ask countries to strengthen their NDCs in 2022.
- Coal and fossil subsidies: first-ever COP text on phasing down unabated coal and phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.
- Adaptation finance: developed countries to at least double it by 2025 from 2019 levels.
- Paris Rulebook completed: rules for Article 6 carbon markets and a common transparency framework.
- Loss and damage: the Santiago Network for technical help, but no fund yet.
- Plurilateral pledges: the Global Methane Pledge, the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and finance alliances.
- Green Grids Initiative (OSOWOG) and IRIS for resilient island infrastructure, launched with India's support.
India's commitments (Panchamrit)
- 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030.
- 50% of energy requirements from renewables by 2030.
- Cut 1 billion tonnes of projected emissions by 2030.
- Reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 45% from 2005 levels by 2030.
- Net zero by 2070.
- Mission LiFE: lifestyle for environment, a call for mindful consumption.
Assessment
- Glasgow kept 1.5°C alive on paper, but pledges still pointed to about 2.4°C of warming.
- The $100 billion climate finance promise remained unmet.
- India's targets were ambitious for a developing country, and it has since met the 50% non-fossil capacity goal (June 2025) and set a 2035 NDC (April 2026).
Glasgow wrote the rules; the test, as always, was in the money and the action that followed.
Draw: Five fingers of a hand, each with one Panchamrit target.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
COP26 Glasgow 2021, Glasgow Climate Pact, 1.5°C, phase down unabated coal, doubling adaptation finance, Article 6 rulebook, Santiago Network, Global Methane Pledge, forests declaration, Panchamrit, 500 GW, net zero 2070, LiFE, IRIS, OSOWOG.
Where most answers lose marks
- Listing India's targets without the conference outcomes, which come first in the question.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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