New Delhi: The US today welcomed India's recent pledge to reduce its greenhouse emission intensity by upto 35 per cent and increasing its non-fossil electricity generation capacity and said the targets build on the already ambitious policies announced by Narendra Modi-led government.
"We welcome the news of India's submission of its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). We now have greenhouse gas mitigation pledges for post-2020 period from over 140 countries, representing around 85 percent of global emissions.
"India's INDC includes a target to significantly increase non-fossil electricity generation capacity and a target to expand India's forest carbon sink, both of which build on the already ambitious policies initiated by the Modi government," US Ambassador to India Richard Verma said in a statement.
Verma said that India's submission of INDC is yet another example of the wide spectrum of countries all over the world taking climate action.
"We encourage all countries that have not yet done so to submit transparent and ambitious INDCs as soon as possible," he said.
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The US has submitted its INDCs sometime back in which it has commited to cutting greenhouse gases by 26-28 per cent by 2025 against the 2005 level.
Ahead of the crucial climate change summit in Paris, India recently made a "comprehensive and ambitious" pledge to reduce its greenhouse emission intensity by upto 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels, a 75 per cent jump over its present voluntary commitment.
India also said that as per preliminary estimates, "at least USD 2.5 trillion (at 2014-15 prices) will be required for meeting India's climate change actions between now and 2030".
India also said that it would seek to achieve 40 per cent installed capacity for electric power from non-fossil fuel resources by 2030, which would be a jump of 33 per cent from the present capacity.
In addition, India has also pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
