India's Role in the Paris Agreement

On April 22, India stood shoulder to shoulder with 100 other nations in ratifying the Paris Agreement on climate change. This United Nations agreement, the result of negotiations in Paris in December 2015, presents a global action plan designed to steer the world towards limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius. The aim is to protect the world from the devastating impacts of climate change. The world has already experienced a 1-degree rise in temperature, a consequence of 150 years of unchecked carbon emissions primarily by the developed world. While the United States contributed 30 per cent of the cumulative emissions, Europe, Canada and other developed nations were responsible for 50 per cent, and China for 10 per cent. In contrast, India's contribution was a mere 3 per cent. India has been proactive in its efforts to mitigate the harmful effects of global warming, imposing a green cess of Rs. 400 per tonne on coal and proposing the Compensatory Afforestation Funds Bill, 2015. This bill would unlock a whopping Rs. 40,000 crore for states to undertake afforestation initiatives.