India has significantly raised its climate ambition, committing to cut the emissions intensity of its GDP by 47 percent by 2035 compared to 2005 levels, while accelerating its transition toward cleaner energy and expanding its natural carbon sinks. The updated targets position the country as a key player in global climate action, aligning economic growth with sustainability goals.
India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for the period 2031 to 2035 were cleared by the Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi today, March 25.
Under the new roadmap, India aims to ensure that 60 percent of its cumulative installed electricity capacity comes from non-fossil fuel sources by 2035. This marks a major push toward renewable energy, including solar, wind and other clean technologies, as the country works to reduce dependence on coal and other fossil fuels.
The move ends a prolonged wait for the new targets by the world’s most populous nation.
India had missed the UN’s February 2025 deadline, with reports suggesting officials were frustrated over the inadequate climate finance deal struck at COP29 in Baku.
At COP30 in Brazil last November, Bhupender Yadav, India’s Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, had promised the NDC would be out by December. That deadline, too, was missed.
But better late than never. The Indian administration has now finally delivered its ambitious targets in its fight against against climate change.
WHAT ARE INDIA’S CLIMATE TARGETS?
The new NDC sets three headline targets by 2035, each building on goals India has already beaten ahead of schedule.
It also adds five qualitative commitments aimed at weaving sustainability into daily life and governance.
Here is what India has committed to do:
- Cutting Carbon: India has pledged to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP. It’s the amount of greenhouse gas produced per unit of economic output. India aims to cut it by 47% from 2005 levels by 2035. Its 2022 NDC had set a 45% target for 2030, which India was already on track to exceed. As of 2020, emissions intensity had already dropped 36%.
- Adding Energy Capacity: The new target requires 60% of India’s total installed electricity capacity to come from non-fossil fuel sources by 2035. India has already crossed 52.57% as of February 2026, hitting its earlier 50% goal five years ahead of time. The push will be backed by battery storage systems, green energy corridors, the Green Hydrogen Mission, PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, and an expanded nuclear energy programme under the newly launched Nuclear Mission.
- Protecting, Growing Forests: India aims to create a carbon sink of 3.5 to 4 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through forests and tree cover by 2035, a level up from 2.29 billion tonnes already achieved by 2021. The Food and Agriculture Organisation has ranked India third globally in net forest area gain, a recognition the government cited as proof that economic growth and ecological balance can coexist.
Beyond the three measurable targets, the NDC includes five qualitative goals: building climate-resilient infrastructure, scaling up adaptation measures, promoting sustainable lifestyles through the LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) movement, enabling a just transition that protects livelihoods, and embedding climate action into key economic sectors including agriculture, transport, water, and urban development.
On adaptation, the plan covers mangrove restoration along vulnerable coastlines, early warning systems for cyclones, glacier monitoring in the Himalayas, and Heat Action Plans (HAP) across states.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR INDIA?
The NDC is framed around the vision of Viksit Bharat, the national goal of a developed India by 2047, and India’s long-term net-zero goal of 2070.
Wide stakeholder consultations involving ten NITI Aayog working groups, central ministries, industry, and civil society shaped the final targets.
India has also pushed back on developed nations, demanding they deliver trillions in climate finance as legally obligated under the Paris Agreement before asking developing countries to do more.
India’s track record of beating its own climate targets early lends credibility to this fresh round of promises.
