Developed nations evading climate responsibility: Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Saturday accused developed nations of shirking their responsibility for addressing the impact of climate change, arguing that they continue to evade accountability despite contributing the most to global carbon emissions.

Speaking at the Himalaya Environment Dialogue in Haridwar, Yadav said, “Some point out that India ranks fourth in global carbon emissions. But if we combine the developed countries, their share comes to around 60%, while ours is only 4.5–5%.”

As preparations are underway for COP 30, scheduled in Brazil this November, major countries have not declared their climate goals, including India. So far, only 37 out of 195 countries have submitted their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). The Paris Agreement requires countries to submit new NDCs every five years to regulate fossil fuel emissions.

India had submitted its first NDC in 2015, pledging to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33–35% by 2030, and to achieve about 40% cumulative electric power capacity from non-fossil-fuel-based resources by the same year.

“We believe that all nations have a right to dignified life including the Global South. Everyone has a right to access energy. After the Paris agreement, out of eight Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) three were quantitative. We had said that the renewable energy capacity would be 40% and reduce the carbon emissions intensity by 40%. We have promised that we would create a carbon sink of 3.3 billion tonnes. And India achieved two targets in renewable energy and carbon sink nine years before the target that was 2030,” Yadav said.

Nicaragua is the latest to have submitted its NDC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The European Union, which has brought down its carbon emissions by 37% compared, is yet to announce the updated NDC. The European Commission aims for a political agreement on the 2040 target before submitting the third NDC.

“The EU needs to update its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement by September 2025. This extended deadline allows the United Nations climate secretariat enough time to assess the collective effect of all national climate plans, relative to the targets under the Paris Agreement, before the start of the COP30 climate change conference in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025,” European Parliament Think said.