National Solar Mission: As of 31st December 2021, solar power capacity of 49.35 GW has been installed in the country.
National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency: Currently, PAT Cycle IV is under implementation.
Energy savings of approximately 26 MTOE are expected to be achieved.
National Mission for Green India: Afforestation activities were taken up over an area of 1,17,757 ha.
National Mission on Sustainable Habitat: 702 km of conventional metro is operational in the country. Additional 1,016 km of metro and regional rapid transit system is under construction in 27 cities.
National Water Mission: 15640 ground water observation wells are being monitored by Central Ground Water Board
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture: Key targets for FY 2021-2025 include covering 20 lakh hectare of area under organic farming, 87 lakh hectare under precision irrigation, 2.10 lakh hectare under System for Rice Intensification, 6 lakh hectare under diversification to less water consuming crop, 1.19 lakh hectare additional area under plantation in arable land.
National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystems: State climate change centres have been set up in 12 Himalayan states. A new centre for Glaciology has been established.
National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change: 40,000 people have been trained. It has also created and strengthened 11 Centres of Excellence for climate change.
COP 26 Glasgow
The prime Minister, as a part of the national statement delivered at the 26th conference of Parties (COP 26) in Glasgow in November Achieved by 2030 to enable further reduction in emissions.
The need to start the one-word movement 'LIFE' (Lifestyle for Environment) urging mindful and deliberate utilization instead of mindless and destructive consumption was underlined.
Finance for Sustainable Development
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set up a new unit–‘Sustainable Finance Group’ (SFG) within its Department of Regulation to effectively counter risks arising out of climate change, and for leading the regulatory initiatives in the areas of sustainable finance and climate risk.
The liberalised External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) norms of RBI have enabled the Indian renewable energy companies and other firms for raising finance through green bonds and sustainable bonds.
Forest Resources
India has the tenth largest forest area in the world.
In 2020, India ranked third globally in increasing its forest area during 2010 to 2020.
In 2020, the forests covered 24% of India’s total geographical, accounting for 2% of the world’s total forest area.
India’s total forest cover was 7,13,789 sq. km in 2021 accounting for 21.71 per cent of total area in 2021.
Plastic Waste Management
In August 2021, the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, was notified which is aimed at phasing out single use plastic by 2022.
Ground Water
The annual ground water recharge has been in the range of 58-63 per cent during 2004-2020.
During this period, Groundwater Units categorized as “safe”, have declined from 2009 (73 per cent) to 2020 (64 per cent). The share of “Over-exploited” units, accounted for 14-17 per cent of total assessment units during 2004-20.
Approximately one per cent of assessment units have been categorized as “saline.”
Rivers
The Compliance status of Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) located in the Ganga main stem and its tributaries improved from 39% in 2017 to 81% in 2020.
The consequent reduction in effluent discharge has been from 349.13 million litres per day (MLD) in 2017 to 280.20 MLD in 2020. As of 31st December 2021, a total of Rs. 561.58 crore has been received under the Clean Ganga Fund established in 2014.
The River City Alliance has been launched in November 2021, as a platform for river cities in India to ideate, discuss, and exchange information for the sustainable management of urban rivers.
Air Pollution
With initiatives such as shift to BS VI, stringent emission norms for coal plants, implementation of waste management rules, 96 cities have showed a decreasing trend of PM10 concentration in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20. However, air pollution remains a major concern, with 36 cities showing an increasingtrend in PM10 concentration in 2020-2021 as compared to 2019-2020.
India’s International Initiatives
In March 2021, India, UK, Italy and Fiji launched the third International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI), which discussed key global issues around resilience of critical infrastructure sectors such as power, telecommunications and health as well as urban infrastructure systems and disaster risk financing.
In November 2021, India, UK, Australia, Fiji, Jamaica and Mauritius launched the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS), a dedicated initiative for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) that will provide quality technical and financial services to make SIDS infrastructure resilient to climate change and disaster events.
