India

About

India’s 2031–2035 NDC is framed around economy-wide development and emissions outcomes, aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047 and India’s long-term goal of net zero by 2070. It sets three quantitative targets:
 

• Reducing the emissions intensity of GDP by 47% from 2005 levels by 2035
   
• Achieving about 60% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuelbased energy resources by 2035
   
• Creating a carbon sink of 3.5–4.0 billion tonnes of CO₂e through forest and tree cover 
  by 2035

The NDC does not set sector-specific emission-reduction targets, including for agriculture, which is central for understanding India’s SLCP pathway. Mitigation of methane, black carbon, HFCs, and tropospheric ozone precursors is pursued largely through sectoral policies that deliver development, productivity, health, air-quality, energy-access, and resource-efficiency benefits. 
In practice, India’s SLCP action is co-benefits led: embedded in clean energy transitions, cooling efficiency, sustainable agriculture, waste management, clean cooking, transport standards, and urban air-quality programmes. This approach is especially important in agriculture, where methane emissions arise from paddy cultivation and livestock systems, which are tied to food security, rural livelihoods, and smallholder production. India has therefore emphasised water-efficient rice practices, direct seeded rice, crop diversification, balanced livestock feed, dairy productivity, manure management, and biogas, rather than economy-wide methane caps.

1. Air Quality policies address SLCPs as a co-benefit through pollutant control

For instance, programmes such as The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP, 2019) aims to reduce particulate matter concentrations (PM10) including Black Carbon relevant emissions through city-specific action plans address combustion emissions, transport, waste and biomass burning. Statutory bodies, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and National Green Tribunal (NGT) have also recognised that ground-level ozone mitigation requires control of precursor gases including NOx, VOCs, CO, and methane, reinforcing cross-sectoral action.
 

2. Cooling 

India’s Cooling Action Plan: India addresses cooling emissions primarily  through the India Cooling Action Plan, which focuses on reducing cooling  demand, improving energy efficiency, and transitioning to low-GWP refrigerants. Emissions are further managed through the phasedown of HFCs under the Kigali Amendment, energy efficiency standards and labelling for cooling appliances, and promotion of sustainable cold chains and efficient cooling infrastructure.The plan seeks to: 
 

• Reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38
   
• Reduce refrigerant demand by 25% to 30% by 2037-38
   
• Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38
   

3. Agriculture and livestock 

Within agricultural emissions, 58.9% arise from enteric fermentation, followed  by 19.2% from rice cultivation and 15.7% from rice cultivation (BTR-1). These emissions are closely linked to food production systems and rural livelihoods and are projected to increase for every developing economy, such as India, to meet its rising food and nutrition demand as population and incomes grow.

Agriculture is predominantly smallholder-based, and underpins national food security programmes, including the National Food Security Act, which provides subsidised food grains to nearly 800 million people, with rice as a primary staple. India is also the world’s largest milk producer. In this context, India’s policy emphasis has been on productivity, water management, crop diversification, improved feed, manure management, and biogas, rather than blunt herd-reduction or paddy-acreage caps.

This position has been acknowledged in government statements, including by the Minister of State, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (2022–23), who described methane in the Indian context as a “survival emission” arising from essential food and livelihood systems.

NITI Aayog’s 2026 report, Scenarios Towards Viksit Bharat and Net Zero: 
Sectoral Insights — Agriculture, frames agricultural mitigation as a set of cobenefits from sustainable rice cultivation, crop diversification, nutrient management, improved dairy productivity, better feed, and manure-to-energy pathways.
 

4. Waste Sector

The waste sector is a significant source of methane, making it an important contributor to SLCPs in India. With rapidly increasing municipal solid waste generation, India recognizes the sector’s potential for harnessing methane (CH₄) for energy. However, limited access to appropriate technologies continues to constrain progress in this area. National initiatives address SLCPs within the broader framework of urban sanitation, waste processing, and resource recovery. Interventions such as source segregation, composting, biomethanation, and improved landfill management are primarily designed to enhance urban environmental quality and service delivery, with methane reduction achieved as a co-benefit.

National Policies Addressing SLCPs
This profile explains why India’s SLCP pathway is sector-embedded and co-benefits led—focusing on farm productivity, alternate rice practices, biogas and waste recovery, and reductions in black carbon through clean cooking and transport standards, rather than economy-wide methane caps. SLCP action must be implemented without compromising vulnerable populations.
IGSD has, therefore, been driving momentum bottom-up, with states integrating methanerelevant actions into State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs), crop diversification strategies, and waste policies—demonstrating how subnational leadership is unlocking politically feasible pathways for SLCP mitigation

Programme