India Delays Climate Action Plan Submission: A Race Against Time

India will miss the February deadline to submit its next round of national climate action plans under the UN Paris Agreement. Studies on emission trajectories are incomplete, delaying commitments. Only a few nations, including the US and Brazil, have met the deadline for the 2035 submissions.

India is set to miss the February deadline for submitting its national climate action plans mandated by the UN Paris Agreement, according to a government official. This delay adds India to the list of nations unable to meet the Monday deadline for delivering updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for 2035, aligned with the goal of capping global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The official, who declined to be named, revealed that India has not yet finalized its studies on emission trajectories and the related roadmap, making it improbable to meet the submission deadline. The environment ministry has not issued any response to inquiries made by Reuters on the matter.

While several countries such as Brazil, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates have already presented their plans, China, another significant global polluter, is yet to submit its contributions. Meanwhile, the United States, under President Joe Biden, completed the 2035 submissions last December, before his presidency concluded with Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.