India Saturday conveyed to the UNFCCC information on the voluntary domestic mitigation actions it will undertake to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20-25 per cent by 2020.
The blueprint was submitted by India a day before the January 31 UN deadline for submitting the climate steps under the Copenhagen Accord.
"While these actions will be in the nature of India's contribution to the global efforts to address climate change,India has clarified that its domestic mitigation actions will be entirely voluntary in nature and will not have a legally
binding character," the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests said in a press statement.
The government has formally conveyed to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that India will endeavour to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20-25 per cent by 2020 in comparison
to the 2005 level through domestic mitigation actions.
The mitigation actions will not apply to agriculture sector, the Ministry said adding, the emissions from agriculture sector will be excluded from the assessment of emissions intensity.
India's mitigation actions will be taken in accordance with the principles and provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention, it noted.
The Convention requires that the developed countries parties known as Annex I Parties undertake mitigation commitments with specific quantified targets to reduce their emissions, while the developing countries like India take
mitigation actions in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capability.
India intends to implement its mitigation actions in accordance with the provisions of the relevant national legislations and policies and will elaborate in due course the actions required in various sectors to achieve the overall objective of the emissions intensity reduction, the statement
said.