Previously, India relied heavily on coal to meet its energy needs. Over the years, India has been committed to exploring new alternative energy sources for long-term development. With a population of 1.417 billion, India’s energy requirement has been significantly growing. However, in recent years, India has made tremendous progress, connecting hundreds of millions of people to electricity and dramatically increasing the use of green energy.

India committed to producing 50% of its total electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 in the Paris Agreement’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) targets in 2016. Furthermore, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) of India also set a target of producing 50% of total electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, in 2018. At the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Government of India also expressed its concerns about climate change. There, India presented its five nectar elements (Panchamrit) climate action plan. In this plan, the nation has set a target of producing 500 GW by 2030 from green energy resources across solar, wind, bio-power, and hydroelectric applications. Later, it reiterated this commitment in COP27.

According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, today India has emerged as the third largest producer of renewable energy, with non-fossil fuel sources accounting for 40% of installed electricity capacity. This has been achieved through the constant efforts and willingness of leaders to fight climate change. Let us now look at the various aspects of India’s position on green energy.