Aligning India's Climate Action with its Long-Term Climate and Development Goals

India submitted its Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LTS) to the UNFCCC in November 2022. This serves as India’s long-term climate strategy stating its commitment to adopting low-carbon development pathways towards net-zero emissions and strengthening adaptation measures in the context of changing climate. The document outlines strategic transitions to low-carbon electricity, transport and industrial systems; sustainable urbanization, climate resilient and efficient buildings; carbon dioxide removal; and enhancement of forest and tree cover. It also simultaneously outlines the substantive need for low-cost international climate finance to successfully achieve these transitions.

While India’s long-term climate strategy (LTS) underlines its commitment to a low-carbon future, it recognizes the national development priorities of poverty eradication, increasing employment, energy needs for development, and improving energy access and security while ensuring continued economic growth and sustainable development.

The challenge therein lies in translating India’s LTS into action at both the national and subnational levels. A successful implementation of India’s LTS would require filling in gaps around knowledge, capacity, technology and finance. This initiative aims to support research, stakeholder engagement, and capacity building towards strengthening climate planning and implementation considering India’s developmental priorities.

Objectives

To produce new research, evidence, and understanding that informs planning and actions for low-carbon and climate-resilient development in India, considering sectoral and sub-national plans.
To strengthen capacity related to long-term climate planning and action, in line with India’s developmental goals.
To engage with relevant stakeholders at the national and subnational level to understand opportunities, challenges, and trade-offs around alternative pathways for India’s low-carbon and climate-resilient development, including considerations for a just transition.

Activities

The initiative includes research, tool development, capacity building, and stakeholder engagement activities. Research activities will include developing alternative scenarios of India’s low-carbon development up to 2070 using energy-economy modelling (using a simulation model called the India Energy Policy Simulator), roadmaps for sectoral climate action and undertaking deep dives or case studies. Subnational activities will be carried out in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. This will include research, capacity building and engagement to inform state climate action.

Knowledge Products

Expert Note

Pathways to Net Zero: Policies and Measures for Industrial Decarbonization in India

This expert note by Shruti Dayal, Varun Agarwal and Ashwini Hingne discusses key policy actions to enable industrial decarbonization by examining the emissions reduction potential for the industrial sector in the long-term decarbonization (LTD) scenario aligned with India’s net zero 2070 target.

Working Papers

Long-term emissions scenarios for India’s power sector: An analysis using the India Energy Policy Simulator

Meeting electricity demand while moderating the growth of carbon emissions is a crucial challenge for achieving India's climate and development goals.

This working paper by Varun Agarwal, Subrata Chakrabarty, Devadathan Biju and Deepthi Swamy uses the India Energy Policy Simulator to analyze three scenarios for the power sector through 2050: an Ambitious Policy (AP) scenario with deep decarbonization measures, a No New Policy (NNP) scenario with a continuation of existing policies, and a Renewable Energy Bottleneck (REB) scenario with constraints on renewable energy capacity growth.

Pathways to decarbonize India’s transport sector: Scenario analysis using the Energy Policy Simulator

India’s Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) highlights key strategies such as electrification, fuel efficiency improvements, and a modal shift to public transport for passenger transport and toward railways for road freight to decarbonize the transport sector. The decarbonization potential of these strategies will help prioritize effective low-carbon transport policy packages.

This working paper by Ramya MA and Subrata Chakrabarty presents the decarbonization potential of each of these strategies by disaggregating them into policy levers, under varying time frames and intensities.

Events

Strengthening Madhya Pradesh to leverage benefits & opportunities from Carbon Markets

WRI India in association with the Environmental Planning and Coordination Organization (EPCO), Government of Madhya Pradesh organized a convening on ‘Strengthening Madhya Pradesh to leverage benefits & opportunities from Carbon Markets’ on 15 January 2025. Over 95 key stakeholders from government departments, industry, research institutions, academia and civil society organizations discussed the global status of the new architecture of the carbon markets. Furthermore, deliberations at the convening revolved around the scenario of the domestic carbon market and the strategies to integrate carbon finance through carbon markets to meet Madhya Pradesh’s climate and developmental priorities.

Multistakeholder Dialogue- Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy of Madhya Pradesh

The multistakeholder dialogue on the ‘Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy of Madhya Pradesh’ was organized by WRI India in association with EPCO, Government of Madhya Pradesh on 18 October 2024 in Bhopal. The dialogue facilitated discussions on climate mitigation and operationalizing long-term climate actions in Madhya Pradesh. Subject experts and stakeholders from the government, academia and civil society deliberated on Madhya Pradesh’s crucial role in contributing to India’s climate goals while highlighting the challenges of behavioural nudges, data infrastructure, and financing barriers for the state. The dialogue called for stronger inter-departmental collaboration, data management, and proactive governance to build Madhya Pradesh’s long-term low-carbon development strategy.

India EPS Workshop

WRI India in partnership with the Environmental Planning & Coordination Organisation (EPCO) Bhopal organised a workshop on 14 October 2024 in Bhopal. The workshop outlined the motivation behind energy-economy modelling and provided an overview of the India Energy Policy Simulator (EPS), its features, key outputs, and the policy-relevant questions it can address to over 30 participants from government agencies, academia, research institutes and civic bodies.

Using two structured group exercises, the workshop helped participants identify the interlinkages and the trade-offs that often get overlooked when developing climate policies focussed on minimizing emissions using a sector-siloed approach.

Multistakeholder Dialogue - Pathways for India’s Low-Carbon and Climate Resilient Development

Initiative Partners

This initiative is led by WRI India in collaboration with Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. The project is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany (BMWK) under the International Climate Initiative (IKI) and the World Resources Institute.