Bengaluru: Late by more than a year, India’s third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is finally here. On Wednesday (March 25), the Union Cabinet approved India’s NDC, which is a set of long-term goals to cut carbon emissions and adapt to climate impacts that every country signatory to the Paris Agreement has to provide, and update every five years.India’s updated targets include reducing emissions intensity of its GDP by 47% by 2035 from the 2005 level, achieving 60% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2035, and creating a carbon sink of 3.5 to 4.0 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent through forest and tree cover by 2035 (when compared to the 2005 level). These will soon be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) soon.India’s last update to the NDC came in August 2022, when it agreed to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030 from the 2005 level, and achieve 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.‘India is doing more than other countries’“The new targets announced by India set at rest doubts, if any, about India delaying its actions under a destabilised environment of multilateral cooperation,” R.R. Rashmi, distinguished fellow, The Energy and Resources Institute, told The Wire. He said India has done “much more” and “faster” than several developed countries.“To some, the targets may appear modest but are in reality onerous if you look at the energy and the long term decarbonisation challenge before India. India is managing all these changes with its own resources and very little international support even when it happens to be a large energy-importing nation. By contrast, many other large developing economies which are energy independent and where foreign investments in critical sectors are substantial, are doing much less,” he commented.A sign of low ambition?However, Lauri Myllyvirta, Lead Analyst and Co-Founder of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said that India’s new 2035 climate targets underestimate the country’s potential for transformative clean energy growth.“Under current plans, the target of 60% clean power capacity will be achieved before 2030, rather than by 2035,” she said in a statement. “Continuing the current clean energy growth at rates already achieved in 2024-25 would enable India to peak power sector emissions well before 2030 and significantly slow down its CO2 emission growth rates. Yet, the carbon intensity target announced today allows for an acceleration of emissions growth compared with past rates if GDP growth is at target. India’s booming clean energy industry is highly likely to deliver much faster progress than policymakers were prepared to commit to today.”Also read: India Records Highest Rise In Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2024: UNEP ReportThe numbers mentioned in the Union Cabinet’s press release on March 25 point to this: that India’s emissions intensity has reduced by 36% from 2005 to 2020; that India has already created a carbon sink of 2.29 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent as of 2021; and that electric power from non-fossil fuel sources is at 52.57% as of February 2026.“India’s revised NDCs are a step in the right direction, but they fall short of the ambition required at this stage of the energy transition,” commented Vibhuti Garg, Director South Asia, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). “With non-fossil fuel capacity already crossing ~52% by 2025–26, a target of 60% by 2035 does not adequately reflect either the pace of progress or the scale of opportunity ahead.”She noted that at a time when India remains vulnerable to global supply and price shocks, particularly in imported fossil fuels, the case for accelerating electrification from clean energy sources across sectors was stronger than ever.“Industrial electrification, in particular, offers a dual benefit: reducing import dependence while enhancing long-term economic resilience. Encouragingly, the NDCs emphasise building resilient infrastructure. However, this needs to be complemented by a sharper, sector-wide decarbonisation roadmap aligned with India’s long-term net-zero trajectory as outlined by NITI Aayog. Each sector – industry, transport and buildings – must now move beyond incremental targets toward transformative electrification strategies,” Garg said in a statement.Late by more than a yearThe government finalised the new, third NDC targets after taking into consideration the “outcomes of the first Global Stocktake (GST), principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC), and equity with a view to harmonise national realities, developmental priorities, energy security and the need for greater ambition in climate action, in line with the purpose and long-term goals of the Paris Agreement”, the press release on the Cabinet decision said.It also said that India’s successive climate commitments are outcomes of stakeholder consultations and studies by the ten working groups in the NITI Aayog, comprising Union ministries, domain experts, industry bodies and civil society organisations, and that it also took sector-specific inputs from across the fields of energy, industry, transport, agriculture, water and urban development, “ensuring that the revised targets are ambitious, achievable, and grounded in domestic capabilities”.However, this latest NDC – India’s third – is late by more than a year: it was due in February 2025. Though the UNFCCC called for late submissions by September, India did not make that deadline either. Though Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said at the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP30) in November last year that India would declare its third NDC for targets till 2035, he had not specified when.