India’s second Biennial Update Report (BUR) to UNFCCC

Context: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Submission of India’s second Biennial Update Report (BUR) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) towards the fulfilment of the reporting obligation under the Convention.

Background:

The submission of India’s second BUR would fulfil the obligation of India to furnish information regarding implementation of the convention, being a party. The scope of the BUR is to provide an update to India’s first BUR to the UNFCCC.

The second biennial update report aims to provide an update to India’s first biennial report to the United Nation’s body on climate change.

The report contains five major components including national circumstances, national greenhouse gas inventory, mitigation actions, finance, technology and capacity building needs and support received and domestic monitoring, reporting and verification arrangements.

Key findings:

• Out of the total emissions, energy sector accounted for 73%, IPPU 8%, agriculture 16% and waste sector 3%. About 12% of the emissions were offset by the carbon sink action of forestland, cropland and settlements.

INDC- India’s proposed targets:

• Reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35% by 2030 from 2005 level.
• Achieve about 40% electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resourcesby 2030 with help of transfer of technology and low cost international finance.
• Create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

About UNFCCC:

The UNFCCC was adopted in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, which marked the beginning of the international community’s first concerted effort to confront the problem of climate change.

• Known also as the Rio Convention, the UNFCCC established a framework for action to stabilise concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere.
• The UNFCCC entered into force in 1994, and nearly all of the world’s nations—a total of 195—have now signed on.

Sources: the hindu.