India raises clean-energy ambition with 60% non-fossil fuel power goal by 2035

Updating its climate goals, India has pledged that by 2035, 60% of its installed electric capacity will comprise of non-fossil sources. It also aims to reduce by 47% the intensity of emissions per unit of GDP from 2005 level and to increase its carbon sink to 3.5 billion tonnes - 4 billion tonnes. These targets make up its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which are to be communicated to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

“We will easily achieve these goals… (with) the speed with which we are expanding our non-fossil sources,” Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a briefing on Wednesday following a Cabinet meeting.

As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, India was required to issue an updated NDC in 2025, which spells out its voluntary actions towards transitioning away from fossil fuel and improving energy-efficiency measures.

At the 30th edition of the Conference of Parties in Belem, Brazil, in November last year, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav said that India would announce the NDC by the “year-end. The Conference of Parties, or CoP, is a body of nations that convenes annually to discuss climate issues and transition their economies away from fossil fuel.

India and Argentina were the only two G-20 countries that had not announced a 2035 NDC as of December 31, 2025. A total of 128 parties, representing about 78% of global greenhouse gas emissions, had submitted new NDCs by that date. These included 21 Small Island Developing States, 19 Least Developed Countries, and 18 G-20 members.

Current commitments

India’s current NDC, officially conveyed to the United Nations in August 2022, commits to the following by 2030: having 50% of its installed electric power from non-fossil sources; reducing the intensity of emissions per unit of GDP by 44%; and increasing its carbon sink to at least 2.5 billion tonnes to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Currently, about 52% of India’s installed electric capacity comes from non-fossil fuel sources — a target achieved well before the deadline — though only about 25% of the power generated is non-fossil. These sources include solar, wind, hydropower, biomass, and nuclear power. As of 2019, say official estimates, India has achieved an emissions intensity of 36% from 2005-2020.

A carbon sink of 1.97 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent had already been created from 2005 to 2019. However, forest and tree cover accounts for about 24.6% of India’s geographical area as of 2021, which is higher than the 21% in 2005, but still less than the national policy goal of 33%.

“In shaping India’s NDC for 2031-2035, the government has considered 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 harmonize 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 Environment Ministry said in a statement.

Initiated in 2021, the GST assesses the world’s collective progress towards limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, concluding that nations are not on track. Several independent analysts have suggested that while India may meet its 2030 NDC targets, it isn’t enough to keep the globe on a 1.5C pathway.

Independent analysts said India was picking up the slack for developed countries.

India’s NDC target had come amid a “rollback of climate policies” and “unilateral trade measures” by developed, rich countries, Vaibhav Chaturvedi, senior fellow, Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), told The Hindu. “It demonstrates a strong resolve to address transmission and land availability constraints faced by the renewables sector. The 47% emissions intensity target shows that energy security and prices cannot be taken for granted.”

“At a time when developed countries are backtracking on ambition, deepening their fossil fuel entrenchment, and dragging the world towards military conflict, the signal from India shows that Global South (developing country) leadership on climate ambition is concrete and real,” Avantika Goswami, of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), an influential think tank, said in a statement.