India’s climate policy is directed towards sustainable development and poverty eradication, while striving continuously to decouple emissions from growth and achieve energy efficiency across sectors, according to Union Minister for Environment , Forest and Climate Change  Bhupender Yadav.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi on the issue of ‘The Next Step for Climate Smart Policies’, he said; ”as we enter the third year of UN Critical Decade of Action, with just seven years remaining to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi drafting and ensuring execution of Climate Smart Policies has taken the centre-stage in India.”

He said climate smart policies were a very Indian way of life, the term sustainable development might be new. However, the concept was knitted into Indian ethos

Yadav noted that globally India stood 4th in terms of installed renewable energy capacity, 4th in terms of wind installed capacity and fifth in terms of solar installed capacity. In just the last 9 years, installed capacity of solar energy in India has increased by more than 23 times.

He said he was proud to share that India’s installed renewable energy capacity has increased 396% in the last 8.5 years. India has emerged as a global example on how development and conservation of environment could go hand in hand.

Yadav said climate smart policies acted as a policy tool for specific action for sustainable development. It was unfortunate that the world learnt about the concept of sustainability the hard way. ”We are now witness to how mindless consumption and unplanned development has jeopardised food and energy security across many a nation.”

He said there were developing countries that were reeling under the menace of unsustainable debt and at the same time were also victims of unsustainable consumption and production processes of the developed world.

Talking about the 2023-2024 Union Budget, Yadav said it served as a strong foundation for building a Green India. He said that by earmarking ‘Saptarishi’ priority areas, targeted efforts have been set into motion to empower every citizen through green and sustainable growth.