Environmental Conventions: Stockholm to Paris

According to the UN Treaty Collection, India signed the Paris Agreement on 22 April 2016, the day it opened for signature in New York, and ratified it on 2 October 2016, Gandhi Jayanti. The Agreement had been adopted on 12 December 2015 at COP21 and entered into force on 4 November 2016, thirty days after the 55/55 threshold was met on 5 October 2016. India was thus among the early ratifiers whose instruments helped bring the treaty into force within a year of adoption.

The Convention was adopted on 9 May 1992 in New York (event 2), opened for signature at Rio in June 1992 (event 3), and entered into force on 21 March 1994 (event 1). So the order is 2–3–1.

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. India's INDC, submitted on 2 October 2015 and later treated as its first NDC, set eight goals, three of them quantitative. It pledged to reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 33-35 per cent by 2030 from the 2005 level, so statement 1 is wrong only because of the base year. It aimed at about 40 per cent non-fossil installed power capacity by 2030, explicitly conditional on technology transfer and low-cost international finance including the GCF, and an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 GtCO2e through forest and tree cover. Other goals covered sustainable lifestyles, adaptation, climate finance mobilization and technology capacity.

The Cabinet decision of 3 August 2022, followed by submission to the UNFCCC registry on 26 August 2022, updated two of India's quantitative targets and added mass movement for LIFE (Lifestyle for Environment) as a goal. The release explained that the NDC is a framework for India's transition to cleaner energy for 2021-2030 and stated that India's NDC does not bind it to any sector-specific mitigation obligation or action; the aim is to reduce overall emissions intensity and improve energy efficiency over time while protecting the vulnerable sectors of the economy and segments of society. The base year remains 2005, and there is no absolute cap or coal phase-out date.

All four are correct. A Lok Sabha reply reported by PIB on 21 July 2025 stated that India reduced the emissions intensity of its GDP by 36 per cent between 2005 and 2020 and that the non-fossil share of installed capacity reached 50 per cent in June 2025, five years ahead of the 2030 target in the updated NDC. The Cabinet approval of the 2031-2035 NDC (March 2026) recorded an additional sink of 2.29 GtCO2e by 2021 from the 2005 level and noted that the 2015 NDC targets on intensity and non-fossil capacity had been achieved years ahead of schedule. These figures underpin India's claim to be on track while raising targets for 2035.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. India's LT-LEDS (November 2022) sets out seven key transitions: low-carbon development of electricity systems consistent with development; an integrated, efficient and inclusive low-carbon transport system; adaptation in urban design, energy and material efficiency in buildings and sustainable urbanisation; economy-wide decoupling of growth from emissions with an efficient, innovative low-emission industrial system; CO2 removal and related engineering solutions; enhancing forest and vegetation cover consistent with socio-economic and ecological considerations; and the economic and financial aspects of low-carbon development. Statement 3 is therefore wrong: forests are one of the seven transitions, reflecting the role of sinks in reaching net zero by 2070.

Decision 18/CMA.1 asked Parties to submit their first BTR at the latest by 31 December 2024. India submitted its fourth Biennial Update Report (BUR-4), a Convention-era report containing its 2020 greenhouse gas inventory, on 30 December 2024. Its first BTR (listed by the UNFCCC as "India. 2024 Biennial Transparency Report (BTR). BTR1.") was submitted on 30 April 2026. India's 2031-2035 NDC was communicated separately, on 24 April 2026, not at COP30. Developing countries other than LDCs and SIDS have flexibility in BTR reporting, but not an exemption.

All three are correct. The Union Cabinet approved India's NDC for 2031-2035 on 25 March 2026, and it was submitted to the UNFCCC registry on 24 April 2026, in the "NDC 3.0" round encouraged by the first global stocktake. Among its quantitative goals, it targets about 60 per cent non-fossil installed power capacity by 2035 and a larger carbon sink of 3.5-4.0 GtCO2e by 2035 from the 2005 level. Its intensity target is again measured from 2005, preserving continuity with the 2015 and 2022 NDCs. The Cabinet note also recorded that India met its 2015 intensity and non-fossil targets well ahead of 2030 and framed the new NDC under the principle of CBDR-RC.