India’s 2030 emissions journey is going better than the rest of the world

India closer to meeting its NDC target

India’s emissions rose faster than other major economies in 2023, but despite the 6.2 percent growth, per capita emissions remained lower than the rest, according to the UN Emissions Gap Report, 2024.

India’s per capita emissions, at 2.9 tonnes, were half of Brazil’s 6 tonnes, nearly a fourth of China’s, and a sixth of the US’s, at 18 tonnes per person in 2023.

The report points out that given its current trajectory, the country is also more likely to successfully meet its Nationally Determined Contributions targets by 2030, along with most Asian economies, while Europe and the Americas will miss theirs.

However, India will have to move faster to meet its net zero target of 2070, as emissions are yet to peak. India will have 40 years to meet this target compared with 60 years for the EU, 59 for the UK, and 43 for the US.

China, which has set a more ambitious plan of reaching net zero by 2060, will have 37 years to meet its target, while Korea (2050) will have 32 years.

A Moneycontrol analysis shows that India is doing better than the rest of the world in reducing its climate financing gap, which is instrumental in helping countries reach their net zero goal.

The country will need to ramp up annual investments to $170 billion, or four times the current outlay, compared with a sevenfold jump needed for the world. The European Union is in the  best place though, as it requires a 60 percent increase in annual investment, to $1.4 trillion.

India’s share of the global renewable energy capacity addition has also risen. The UN report notes that India, along with the US, China, Brazil, and Germany, accounted for 60 percent of the capacity addition.

India's share of global installed capacity of renewable energy has gone from 3 percent two decades ago to nearly 5 percent in 2023.

Significant gains have been made in solar additions as well, where India’s share went  from just around 1 percent in 2012 to over 5 percent in 2023.

An earlier analysis by Moneycontrol found that the government would need to triple its capacity addition to reach the ambitious goal of 500 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030.