India on Wednesday approved enhanced climate targets for the 2031-2035 period under the Paris Agreement, raising its commitments on emissions, clean energy, and forests at a time when the United States has withdrawn from the global climate framework and several developed nations are scaling back ambition. India revised the formal pledge each country makes under the Paris Agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. (Unsplash/ Representational)
The Union cabinet approved three quantitative goals as part of India’s revised nationally determined contribution (NDC) — the formal pledge each country makes under the Paris Agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The new targets represent a step-up from the goals India set for the 2030 period, announced in August 2022.
India now aims to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP — the amount of greenhouse gases produced per unit of economic output — by 47% by 2035 from 2005 levels, up from the earlier target of 45% by 2030. It has committed to drawing 60% of its cumulative installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2035, against the previous goal of 50% by 2030. And it has raised its target for carbon sinks — CO2 absorbed through forest and tree cover — to 3.5-4 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2035, from 2.5-3 billion tonnes by 2030.
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On each count, India is already ahead of its earlier schedule, the government stated. The country’s emissions intensity fell 36% between 2005 and 2020. Non-fossil sources accounted for 52.57% of installed capacity as of February 2026,meeting the 2030 target five years early. And India had created 2.29 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in carbon sinks by 2021, the Centre said.
The revised NDC was long awaited. The initial deadline for countries to submit their 2035 targets was September 2025. Most countries missedthis. India’s commitments, the Centre said, are aligned with its vision of a developed India (Viksit Bharat) by 2047 and its long-term goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2070.
“India’s new targets represent a commitment to climate multilateralism,” said Avantika Goswami, programme manager for climate change at the Centre for Science and Environment. To halve its emissions intensity and have more than half of installed power capacity from non-fossil sources within nine years “shows that India is pulling more than its weight given its minimal historical contribution to emissions,” she said. “At a time when developed countries are backtracking on ambition, deepening their fossil fuel entrenchment, and dragging the world towards military conflict, the signal from India shows that Global South leadership on climate ambition is concrete and real.”
Vaibhav Chaturvedi, senior fellow at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, said India’s announcement came within “a rapidly evolving global landscape marked by a rollback of climate policies in the global north, unilateral climate-linked trade measures, and a war in the Middle East.” The 47% emissions intensity target, he said, “reflects the growing understanding that energy security and prices cannot be taken for granted and the current scenario is riskier than ever on both the energy and macroeconomy fronts.”
“It is good to see that India has increased all three major key quantitative goals — emission reductions, non-fossil or clean power and carbon sinks. At a time when the world order stands diminished, and when there is little traction for climate — which seems to have lost its standing as a global public good -- it is good to see that India is staying on track. And given that India is the BRICS chair, this announcement probably paves the way for a BRICS-led climate action. It is evident that the West is not going to lead on climate. And India is showing that the leadership now needs to come from large developing countries,” said Dhruba Purkayastha, consultant, Standing Committee on Finance, UNFCCC and adviser (energy and climate) at Observer Research Foundation.
“India’s revised NDCs are a step in the right direction, but they fall short of the ambition required at this stage of the energy transition. With non-fossil fuel capacity already crossing 52% by 2025–26, a target of 60% by 2035 does not adequately reflect either the pace of progress or the scale of opportunity ahead. At a time when India remains vulnerable to global supply and price shocks — particularly in imported fossil fuels — the case for accelerating electrification from clean energy sources across sectors is stronger than ever. Industrial electrification, in particular, offers a dual benefit: reducing import dependence while enhancing long-term economic resilience,” said Vibhuti Garg, Director South Asia, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
India is the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter, after China and the United States. Its per capita emissions, however, remain far below the global average — 3.04 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per person, against a global average of 6.56 tonnes, according to the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research.
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The global context has shifted sharply. The US, the largest historical emitter, exited the Paris Agreement in 2025 and withdrew from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change this January.
Beyond the three quantitative targets, the cabinet also approved five qualitative goals intended to embed climate considerations into development planning. These include a commitment to a climate-friendly path of economic growth; resilient infrastructure with a focus on adaptation, disaster management, and fragile ecosystems; the Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) initiative promoting sustainable living; develop low-cost, long-term finance mechanisms for green energy, and capacity building in climate technologies.
The revised targets are the product of consultations led by ten working groups under NITI Aayog, comprising central ministries, domain experts, industry bodies, and civil society organisations. Sector-specific inputs were assessed across energy, industry, transport, agriculture, water, and urban development, the Centre said.