National Climate Change Law and Policy-making in India,NAPCC — a balance sheet

1. Introduction

With extensive industrialisation in a fast developing Indian economy, India has become one

of the leading emitters of Carbon dioxide and green house gases. The accumulation of these

gases has led to a global threat of climate change. Further, the modern lifestyle, changing

land use techniques, over agricultural use and extensive pressure on natural resources

aggravates the situation. Global warming which is adversely affecting the developing

countries like India due to their limited capacity of dealing with it, is a specific example of

the broader term ‘Climate Change’ and refers to the observed increase in the average

temperature of the air near earth’s surface and oceans in recent decades.1

The effects of climate change are evidently seen in Indian climate with the recent Uttrakhand

incident, changed climate patterns, extreme weather conditions in different seasons, abruptly

reduced and increased rainfalls in different regions. Under a national survey of 4,031 Indian

adults conducted by Yale Project on Climate Change Communication in collaboration with

GlobeScan Incorporated, on Nov-Dec, 2011 revealed some of the results like 80% of

respondents said that the amount of rainfall in their local area had changed in the past 10

years – either decreasing (46%) or increasing (34%); 54% said that hot days in their local

area have become more frequent; 21% said that severe storms and droughts had become more

frequent, while 15% said floods had become more frequent; 38% said the monsoon has

become more unpredictable in their local area compared to the past.2

As Indian economy is primarily based on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water

and forestry, with close ties with natural resource base, climate change can adversely affect

the livelihood of its people with alteration in the distribution and quality of natural resources.

India, being one of the large population countries below poverty line, exerts high pressure on

the depleting natural resources for their development, and thus is facing the challenge of

sustainable economic development. This stands in contrast to international environmental

concerns, and the impacts of climate change on Indian people. Thus, there is an emergent

need of a balanced pathway for sustainable economic development while dealing with the 1 India, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Annual Report, 2012-13, p. 349.2 Yale project on Climate Change Communication, ‘Climate Change in Indian Mind’, Available at: http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/article/climate-change-indian-mind.

menace of climate change. Further, India bestowed with such diverse topography, climate

and biosphere becomes vulnerable to impacts of climate change, mainly the water stress,

impacts on agriculture and susceptibility to weather-related disasters which further stress on

the need for an action plan dealing with climate change.

There is thus a growing realisation within the international community that for sustainable

development and poverty alleviation projects to have any impact, they must be combined

with the fight to tackle climate change. In a world where the use of finite energy sources

devastates the planet (through sourcing and use) and leads to ever-increasing human

antagonism, projects that do not promote the use of local, sustainable energy resources will

be short-lived and harmful. The importance of a grass roots approach to develop the use of

sustainable energy sources is increasingly recognised amongst governments and international

organisations.

The United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entered into

force on 21 March 1994 with the ultimate objective of stabilizing Green House Gas

concentrations ‘at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human induced)

interference with the climate system’. In pursuance of the obligations cast on parties to

UNFCCC, India has undertaken to communicate information about the implementation of the

Convention, taking into account the common but differentiated responsibilities and respective

capabilities and their specific regional and national development priorities, objectives and

circumstances. The elements of information provided in the communication include a

national inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all Green

House Gases, a general description of steps taken to implement the Convention including an

assessment of impacts and vulnerability and any other relevant information.3

This response was not only in pursuance of the global commitment but also because India

realised that it would suffer adversely from unchecked changes in climate. Thus, as a

roadmap for India’s climate change policy, on June 30, 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh released India’s first National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) outlining

existing and future policies and programs addressing climate mitigation and adaptation.

India’s NAPCC, while asserting its emphasis on adaptation to climate change and priority for

economic development, also lays out, in general terms, the overall framework for actions in

different spheres of its energy system in response to climate change. Specifically, it lays out

3 Government of India, June 2008, National Action Plan on Climate Change, pg. 3.

eight national missions as the way forward4: national missions for solar energy, energy

efficiency, sustainable habitat (public transport; building codes), water, Himalayan

ecosystem, Green India (aforestation), sustainable agriculture, and strategic knowledge for

climate change.

2. Scope of the Paper

This paper would try to provide with a complete insight of National Action Plan on Climate

Change adopted in june 2008. With its outline, principles and functions undertaken in it, this

paper would try to elaborate the eight national missions sought by NAPCC. Further, there

would be a critical assessment of the implementation of objectives sought under NAPCC and

its national missions with the help of NAPCC evaluation reports published by various

authorities. The policies underlying this whether are being effective and cooperative at grass

root level is to be assessed in this paper. Lastly, this paper would throw some light over the

other initiatives and programmes implemented by government of India and the level of

effectiveness reached through them in combating Climate change.

3. National Action Plan on Climate Change : an outline

On June 30, 2008, Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh released India’s first National

Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) outlining existing and future policies and

programs addressing climate mitigation and adaptation. India, being a developing country,

needs to safeguard the high growth rate and maintained living standards of its population, and

for that, this plan was formulated on the basis of socio economic principles like protection of

sensitive & vulnerable sections of society through sustainable development strategy;

enhancement of ecological sustainability by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and

arrangement of appropriate technologies for the same; development of efficient and cost-

effective strategies for end user Demand Side Management and engineering of new and

innovative forms of market, regulatory and voluntary mechanisms to promote sustainable

development; implementation of programmes by coordinated efforts of civil society, local

government institutions and public-private partnership and lastly, with cooperation of

International institutions for research, development programmes.

The plan in order to emphasize more on the overriding priority of maintaining high economic

growth rates to raise living standards, adopted the basic approach as ‘identification of

4 Ibid.

measures that promote development objectives of country while also yielding co-benefits for

addressing Climate Change effectively.’ For this, the plan outlines a number of steps to

advance India's development and climate change-related objectives of adaptation and

mitigation.

The structure designed in this Plan consists of eight national missions which are to be dealt in

detail in this paper. These missions form the core of this plan representing “multi-pronged,

long-term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in the context of climate change”.

This underscores the fact that several of the programmes enumerated under NAPCC are

already being undertaken under various schemes / programmes of the Government of India

(GoI) but in the present context would require a change in “direction, enhancement of scope

and accelerated implementation”5. Apart from that, other ongoing initiatives, including: (i)

Power Generation; (ii) Renewable Energy; and (iii) Energy Efficiency; are also described in

the plan.

All national missions have been approved by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate

Change and are at different stages of implementation. Under advice of the Central

Government, State Governments are also preparing State Action Plans on Climate Change

that are aimed at creating institutional capacities and implementing sectoral activities to

address Climate Change.6 So far, 21 States namely Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh,

Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Karnataka, Lakshadweep,

Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan,

Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal have prepared document on State Action

Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC).7

4. National Missions under NAPCC

There are Eight National Missions which form the core of the National Action Plan,

representing multi-pronged, long-term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in the

context of climate change. The focus of these missions, is on “promoting understanding of

climate change, adaptation and mitigation, energy efficiency and natural resource

conservation.”

5 Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, ‘India Second National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’, 2012, Executive summary, at pg. Xvii. 6 Lok Sabha Secretariat (LARRDIS), ‘Climate Change - India’s Perspective’, Members’ Reference Service Reference Note . No. 25 / RN / Ref. / August/ 2013, at pg. 11. 7 Ibid.

4.1. National Solar Mission

“Our vision is to make India’s economic development energy-efficient. Over a period of time,

we must pioneer a graduated shift from economic activity based on fossil fuels to one based

on non-fossil fuels and from reliance on non-renewable and depleting sources of energy to

renewable sources of energy. In this strategy, the sun occupies center stage, as it should,

being literally the original source of all energy”

– Indian Prime Minister on the release of the National Action Plan

A National Solar Mission will be launched to significantly increase the share of solar energy

in the total energy mix while recognizing the need to expand the scope of other renewable

and non-fossil options such as nuclear energy, wind energy and biomass. Great importance

has been given to the National Solar Mission in the NAPCC. This is justified by the fact that

India is ideally situated in the equatorial Sun Belt receiving abundant solar radiation the year

around. The average solar insolation incident over India is about 5.5 kWh/m2 per day, which

means that just 1% of India’s land can meet the country’s entire electricity requirement till

2030.8

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission envisages implementation in three stages

leading up to an installed capacity of 20,000 MW by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan in

2022, with 1,100 MW of solar power through the electricity grid and 200 MW off the grid, in

its first phase; and a ‘focussed R&D programme.’9

4.2. National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency

This Mission is basically targeted at industry, which, according to the NAPCC, accounts for

42% of the country’s total commercial energy use (2004-2005) and 31 % of total CO2

emissions (1994). The Government of India already had a number of initiatives to promote

energy efficiency in place before the NAPCC such as the star labelling system and energy

conservation building code and had also passed the Energy Conservation Act of 2001.10 In

addition to these, the NAPCC calls for:

8 National Action Plan on Climate Change, pg. 18, 30 June 2008.9 Centre for Education and Documentation, ‘India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change’, (08 / 2010). Available at: http://base.d-p-h.info/fr/fiches/dph/fiche-dph-8799.html.

10 Summary: India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change; PEW Center on Global Climate Change; available at: http://www.pewclimate.org/international/country-policies/india-climate-plan-summary/06-2008.

Mandating specific energy consumption decreases in large energy consuming

industries and creating a framework to certify excess energy savings along with

market based, mechanisms to trade these savings. This is aimed at enhancing cost

effectiveness of improvements in energy efficiency in energy-intensive sectors.

Innovative measures to make energy efficient appliances/products in certain sectors

more affordable.

Creation of mechanisms to help finance demand side management programmes by

capturing future energy savings and enabling public-private-partnerships for this.

Developing fiscal measures to promote energy efficiency such as tax incentives for

including differential taxation on energy efficient certified appliances.11

The National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency is expected to save 23 million tonne

oil equivalent of fuel and avoid the need to build additional capacity of over 19,000MW,

leading to greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 98.55 million tonnes per year, and will add

towards the country’s target of reducing its emission intensity by 20-25% below 2005

levels.12

4.3. National Mission on Sustainable Habitat

The aim of this Mission is to make habitats more sustainable through a threefold approach

that includes improvements in energy efficiency of buildings in residential and commercial

sector, Management of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and Promote urban public transport.13

In this mission, the Government of India had called for wide and diverse range of policy

instruments so that the barriers in adopting energy efficient residential and commercial

sectors can be achieved. For this, there is a need for competitive market for energy efficient

products and transfer of technology from developed nations.

For MSW, the plan suggests common regional disposal facilities for smaller towns and

integrated system for collection, transport, transfer, treatment and disposal facilities, and with

regards to urban public transport, mass transit such as buses, railways and mass rapid transit 11 Climate Leaders, ‘INDIA’S NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON CLIMATE CHANGE’, 2014 LEAD INTERNATIONAL | LEAD INDIA, available at: http://www.climate-leaders.org/climate-change-resources/india-and-climate-change/indias-national-action-plan-on-climate-change#foot_src_2.12 Supra note 9.13 Supra note 11.

systems and the use of CNG, ethanol blending in gasoline and bio-diesel is suggested. In

addition, the Plan proposes the promotion of costal shipping and inland waterways,

increasing attractiveness of railways, introducing appropriate transport pricing measures to

influence purchase and use of vehicles in respect of fuel efficiency and fuel choice, tightening

regulatory standards in fuel-economy of automobiles.14

4.4. National Water Mission

According to the NAPCC, out of the 4000 billion m3 of precipitation that India receives

annually, only 1000 billion m3 is available for use, which comes to approx. 1000 m3 per

capita per annum. Further, by 2050 it states that India is likely to be water scarce. The

National Water Mission thus aims at conserving water, minimising wastage and ensuring

more equitable distribution through integrated water resource management. It also aims to

optimize water use efficiency by 20% by developing a framework of regulatory mechanisms

having differential entitlements and pricing. In addition, the Water Mission calls for strategies

to tackle variability in rainfall and river flows such as enhancing surface and underground

water storage, rainwater harvesting and more efficient irrigation systems like sprinklers or

drip irrigation.15

4.5. National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem

The NAPCC recognises the Himalayan ecosystem as vital to preserving the ecological

security of the country. It consists of forests; perennial rivers which are a source of drinking

water, irrigation, and hydropower; rich biodiversity; and is a major tourist attraction. All

these are in danger from climate change through increases in temperature, changes in

precipitation patterns, drought and glacier melt. The Plan calls for empowering local

communities especially Panchayats to play a greater role in managing ecological resources. It

also reaffirms the following measures mentioned in the National Environment Policy, 2006.

Adopting appropriate land-use planning and water-shed management practices for

sustainable development of mountain ecosystems,

Adopting best practices for infrastructure construction in mountain regions to avoid or

minimize damage to sensitive ecosystems and despoiling of landscapes,

14 Supra note 10.15 Ibid.

Encouraging cultivation of traditional varieties of crops and horticulture by promoting

organic farming, enabling farmers to realise a price premium,

Promoting sustainable tourism based on best practices and multi-stakeholder

partnerships to enable local communities to gain better livelihoods,

Taking measures to regulate tourist inflows into mountain regions to ensure that the

carrying capacity of the mountain ecosystem is not breached,

Developing protection strategies for certain mountain scopes with unique

“incomparable values”.16

5.6. National Mission for a Green India

The Green India Mission aimed at enhancing carbon sinks in sustainably managed forests

and other ecosystems, adaptation of vulnerable species & ecosystems to the changing climate,

and adaptation of forest-dependant local communities in the face of climatic variability. Its

goals include the afforestation of 6 million hectares of degraded forest lands and expanding

our forest cover from 23% to 33% of the country’s geographic area.17

A Joint Forest Management Committees is to be set up under State Departments of Forests

which will promote direct actions from communities, provide training on silvicultural

practices for fast-growing and climate-hardy tree species, enhancing public and private

investments for raising plantations, revitalizing and upscaling community-based initiatives

such as Joint Forest Management and Van Panchayat committees for forest management, etc.

5.7. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

The aimof this mission is to make Indian agriculture more resilient to climate change by

identifying new varieties of crops, especially thermal resistant ones and alternative cropping

patterns. This is to be supported by integration of traditional knowledge and practical

systems, information technology and biotechnology, as well as new credit and insurance

mechanisms. In particular the Mission focuses on rain-fed agricultural zones and suggests18:

i. Development of drought and pest resistant crop varieties

16 Supra note 11.17 Supra note 9.18 Supra note 11.

ii. Improving methods to conserve soil and water

iii. Stakeholder consultations, training workshops and demonstration exercises for

farming communities, for agro-climatic information sharing and dissemination

iv. Financial support to enable farmers to invest in and adopt relevant technologies to

overcome climatic related stresses

v. In addition, the Mission makes suggestions for safeguarding farmers against

increased risk due to climate change. These suggestions include, strengthening agricultural

and weather insurance; creation of web-enabled, regional language based services for

facilitation of weather-based insurance; development of GIS and remote sensing

methodologies; mapping vulnerable regions and disease hotspots; and developing and

implementing region-specific, vulnerability based contingency plans.

vi. Finally, it suggests greater access to information and use of biotechnology.

5.8. National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

This Mission will strive to work with the global community in research and technology

development and collaboration through a variety of mechanisms and, in addition, will also

have its own research agenda supported by a network of dedicated climate change related

institutions and universities and a Climate Research Fund. The Mission will also encourage

private sector initiatives for developing innovative technologies for adaptation and

mitigation.

The Mission includes:

Research in key substantive domains of climate science to improve understanding of

key phenomena and processes,

Global and regional climate modelling to improve the quality and accuracy of climate

change projections for India,

Strengthening of observational networks and data gathering and assimilation to

increase access and availability to relevant data,

Creation of essential research infrastructure, such as high performance computing.

4.9. Other Programmes

The NAPCC also describes other ongoing initiatives, including:

Power Generation: The government is mandating the retirement of inefficient coal-fired

power plants and supporting the research and development of IGCC and supercritical

technologies.

Renewable Energy: Under the Electricity Act 2003 and the National Tariff Policy 2006, the

central and the state electricity regulatory commissions must purchase a certain percentage of

grid-based power from renewable sources.

Energy Efficiency: Under the Energy Conservation Act 2001, large energy-consuming

industries are required to undertake energy audits and an energy labelling program for

appliances has been introduced.19

5. Implementation

According to the NAPCC the 8 National Missions are to be institutionalised by “respective

ministries” and will be organised through inter-sectoral groups including, in addition to

related Ministries, Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission, experts from industry,

academia and civil society.

Structure of Institutional Arrangement of NAPCC

Each Mission has been given the task of evolving specific objectives for the remaining

duration of the 11th Plan and the 12th Plan period (through to 2017). These objectives were to

be stated in comprehensive documents along with strategies, plans of action, timelines and

monitoring and evaluation criteria, which were to be submitted to the Prime Minister’s

Council on Climate Change by December 2008. The Council is to periodically review the

19 Summary: India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change; PEW Center on Global Climate Change; http://www.pewclimate.org/international/country-policies/india-climate-plan-summary/06-2008.

progress of these Missions and the each Mission is to report its performance publically every

year.

The implementation strategy is to be supported by increasing public awareness through a

media and communication strategy, civil society involvement, capacity building, curricula

reform and awards.20

5. Critical Assessment of NAPCC

The NAPCC is found to be comprehensive in ambition—the agenda it sets for the eight

national missions is wide-ranging. But the plan is an aspiration more than a strategy. The

eight national missions span actions that are cost-effective and ready for implementation to

those that are difficult to see achieved in practice. But the real opportunity each of the

mission areas provide as a viable and a valuable response varies. In the eyes of India’s

foreign policy partners, it is hard to assess the credibility of the NAPCC.21

Though it is commonly agreed that the NAPCC represents a significant step forward, in that

it is the first systematic attempt by the Government to frame a comprehensive policy

framework to deal with climate change, most believe that it is insufficient and lacking in

vision and real measurable targets. One of the strongest criticisms has come from a civil

society coalition called Climate Challenge India coalition, which gives the NAPCC “a B+

grade for effort, and a D grade for vision”22.

The coalitions main criticisms are23:

The NAPCC just takes a number of the Government’s existing National Plans for

water, agriculture, renewable energy, energy efficiency, etc. and combines them with

20 Ibid.21 Varun Rai and David G. Victor, ‘Climate Change and the Energy Challenge: A Pragmatic Approach for India’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.44, No. 31, 1-7 August 2009. Available at: http://irps.ucsd.edu/dgvictor/publications/Working%20Papers/WP83%20Climate%20Change%20&%20Energy%20Challenge.pdf.22 Excerpt taken from : http://www.challengingclimate.org/story/1554/1335/Green-coalition-criticizes-India%E2%80%99s-climate-plan.23 Climate Challenge India – Initial Assessment of India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change; http://www.csmworld.org/public/pdf/CCI-NAPCC_statement_final.pdf.Sujatha Byravan & Sudhir Chella Rajan, “An Evaluation of India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change”, Centre for Development Finance (CDF), IFMR and Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Madras, July 2012, Available at : www.indiaclimatemissions.org.

a few additional ones, rather than formulating a new “well-thought through ‘strategy’

chalking out a discernible low-carbon pathway for India.”

It relies too much on out of date IPCC projections and not the best currently available

climate science, thereby leading to a lack of urgency

The NAPCC lays blame on developed countries without taking enough ownership for

the problem

It has a lack of clear targets and timetables for action thereby showing a lack of

seriousness in the Government’s commitment to dealing with climate change. The

only targets are vague like, at no time during its development will India’s per capita

emissions surpass those of the developed world.

There is a lack of focus on forest conservation as opposed to afforestation

The NAPCC suggests glacier melt might not be caused by climate change and that

further study is needed.

Other criticisms include:

Lack of clarity with regards to roles and responsibilities. How is the NAPCC to reach

citizens all over India? Who will be responsible for interpretation and translation of

the document and its objectives? Who will fund the national outreach/public

awareness programmes? These questions and others are not answered.24

There has been no stakeholder consultation during the framing of the NAPCC. No

opinions were taken from a broader community of experts, citizen’s groups, civil

society, etc.25

NAPCC does not adequately analyse regional or global views. It does not mention the

deadlock in the international arena on climate change.26

24 Rahul Goswami, Blind Spots in India’s new National Action Plan on Climate Chagne; Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change; http://www.inecc.net/debate/Blind%20Spots%20in%20NAPCC.php25 Supra note 11.26 Ibid.

Sectoral and ministry-bound approaches (like NAPCC) to problems have till date kept

climate change risks out of our national development policies.27

Policy is limited by what contributes to the development process and also by political

concerns like elections.28

NAPCC does not outline a definitive strategy of how to take to eight Missions of the

ground.29

The Government has not clearly stated how it will finance the plan, it does not talk of

any concrete financial mechanisms nor does it set out a budgetary allocation process.30

6. Other Initiatives and Programmes instituted by Government of India.

Apart from NAPCC, the government of India in consonance with that have introduced many

other programmes to mitigate and adapt to the changing climate scenario and reduce its

impact on the common mass.

National Environment Policy

National Environment Policy, 2006 outlines essential elements of India’s response to Climate

Change. These, inter-alia, include adherence to principle of common but differentiated

responsibility and respective capabilities of different countries, identification of key

vulnerabilities of India to Climate Change, in particular impacts on water resources, forests,

coastal areas, agriculture and health, assessment of the need for adaptation to Climate Change

and encouragement to the Indian Industry to participate in the Clean Development

Mechanism (CDM).31

Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change

The Forum was constituted for the first time in 2008 and since then has been involving

parliamentarians to interact with specialists working on Global Warming and Climate 27 Rahul Goswami, Blind Spots in India’s new National Action Plan on Climate Chagne; Indian Network on Ethics and Climate Change; http://www.inecc.net/debate/Blind%20Spots%20in%20NAPCC.php28 Climatico: Assessing National climate Policy – November 2008 to February 2009; March 2009.29 Tirthankar Mandal; Climate Brief 5: The Action Plan on Climate Change, G8 Declaration and the Accra Climate Change Meet: Points to Ponder; Centre for Trade and Development; August 2008; http://www.centad.org/download/Climate_Brief_5.pdf.30 Ibid.31 Lok Sabha Secretariat (LARRDIS), ‘Climate Change - India’s Perspective’, Members’ Reference Service Reference Note . No. 25 / RN / Ref. / August/ 2013, at pg. 11. Available at:

Change. The Members of the Forum participates in discussions and presentations on various

subjects relating to Climate Change like: Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture;

Population, Resources & Biodiversity with reference to Climate Change; etc., giving insight

into different perspectives of issue of Climate Change, are made by the members.32

Climate Change Action Programme (CCAP)

Various other science initiatives are planned by the Ministry as part of the Climate Change

Action Programme (CCAP). These include National Carbonaceous Aerosols Programme

(NCAP), Long Term Ecological Observatories (LTEO), and Coordinated Studies on Climate

Change for North East region (CSCCNE). The NCAP is a major activity involving multi-

institutional and multi-agency study launched in 2011. In this initiative, Ministry of

Environment and Forests will collaborate with the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the Indian

Space Research Organization, the Ministry of Science and Technology and other associated

agencies to enhance the understanding of the role of Black Carbon in climatic change through

monitoring and assess the impacts of black carbon through various modeling techniques. The

work programme envisages three Working Groups namely Long term Monitoring of Aerosol

(Working Group-I), Impact of Aerosol on Himalayan Glaciers (Working Group-II) and

Modeling of Black Carbon emissions inventory India and assessment of its impacts (Working

Group-III).33

Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA)

Steps have also been taken to increase capacity at the institutional level for conducting

research into Climate Change science and making necessary assessments. The Ministry has

already set up a network, namely the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment

(INCCA) comprising of 127 research institutions tasked with undertaking research on the

science of Climate Change and its impacts on different sectors of economy across various

regions of India. INCCCA has helped the Ministry put together its Green House Gas (GHG)

Emissions Inventories and in carrying out other scientific assessments at more frequent

intervals.34

Other Initiatives

32 Available at: http://164.100.47.134/committee/Forum_informations.33 India, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Annual Report, 2012-13, at pg.352.34 Ibid.

Other initiatives included several parallel international initiatives on Climate Change like the

Xth BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change in New Delhi (13-14 Feb, 2012), along

with three more meetings at South Africa, Brazil and China, to facilitate exchange of views

on outcomes of the Durban Conference and evolution of common BASIC position on key

issues in Climate Change where apart from BASIC countries, Switzerland, Singapore and

Qatar were also invited. India also participated in the meetings of the Major Economies

Forum and the organized by the United States of America (USA) and the Petersburg

Dialogue initiated by Germany. At the sub-regional level, India partnered with Bhutan, Nepal

and Bangladesh for cooperation to address adverse effects of Climate Change through

adaptation actions in the four thematic areas of Food, Water, Energy and Biodiversity.35

For promotion of renewable energy sector, Renewable Energy Procurement Obligation

(RPO) is formulated. Further, the National Tariff Policy (NTP) 2006 was amended in 2011 to

prescribe that solar-specific RPO be increased from a minimum of 0.25% in 2012 to 3% in

2022. At Doha Conference, India, succeeded in defending agriculture sector from being

included in mitigation programme to be lauched at global level.36

Conclusion & Suggestion

After accessing all the above said areas of NAPCC, we can attribute it with some merits and

some demerits. In this plan there is some recognition of the problems the country faces and

understanding of how these will be exacerbated which was not done so effectively

beforehand. In each of the missions, there is some dedication for implementation, along with

the introduction of innovative ways so that the problems can be efficiently adhered to. But

still there are some technical demerits or to say problems in this plan which are need to be

removed by the policy makers.

Some of the problems are: The mission on sustainable agriculture does not address the needs

and challenges of marginal and poor farmers, Identifying and scaling up successful

sustainable farming practices in different agro-climatic zones is vital to address food security

and for tackling climate change—these elements are missing in the mission design; the entire

approach appears to be similar to past policies without recognition of the urgency of the

problems in the agricultural sector, which will only be exacerbated by climate change, the

energy sector has been on a low carbon pathway for the past 20-30 years, and this mission

35 Ibid, p. 356.36 Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2091, dtd. 11.03.2013

brings little novelty to the sector;The mission’s is too narrowly focussed on end-use whole,

including high grid losses, thereby missing an opportunity to be ambitious, etc.37

The broad participatory domestic process for preparing India’s Second National

Communication has contributed to an improved understanding of the challenges associated

with formulating an appropriate policy response for addressing climate change concerns in

India, while simultaneously building capacity in diverse disciplines such as inventory

estimation, emission coefficient measurements, quantitative vulnerability assessment, and

inventory data management.

A key area requiring attention is data requirements for continuous reporting. Measures for

bridging the data gaps and overcoming data barriers for the future national communication

exercises would include designing compatible data reporting formats for continuous GHG

inventory reporting at detailed sub-sector and technology levels, gathering reliable data for

informal sectors of the economy, enhancing data depths to move to a higher tier of inventory

reporting and conducting detailed and fresh measurements for Indian emission coeffi cients.

This would entail substantial fi nancial commitment, fresh technical inputs and building of

scientific capacity.38

Thus it can be finally concluded that this NAPCC when seen as a roadmap for mitigating

climate change impacts is not leading to its destination and there is need for further

construction of effective way to achieve the set international target.

37 Sujatha Byravan & Sudhir Chella Rajan, “An Evaluation of India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change”, Centre for Development Finance (CDF), IFMR and Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Madras, July 2012, Available at : www.indiaclimatemissions.org.38 Supra note 5.