Look beyond old climate fault lines
Indian Express - Opinion · Published 5 November 2026 · Last updated
India must balance national sovereignty, poverty eradication, and energy security against global pressure for ambitious climate electrification targets, while holding the Global North accountable for climate finance.
Key points
- Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced that India is yet to decide on pledging support for a proposed global '35 by 2035' electrification target ahead of COP31.
- The '35 by 2035' target is a global energy initiative proposed by COP31 co-presidencies Turkey and Australia, aiming to scale up electricity's share in global energy use from 23 per cent in 2023 to 35 per cent by 2035.
- India has prioritised renewables over fixed electricity shares in its energy mix due to national circumstances, weaker grids, financially stressed utilities, and limited investment capacity.
- India is among a small group of countries that have made steady progress in meeting their Paris commitments.
- Critics argue that India's targets themselves are not sufficiently ambitious despite its early delivery on energy-related targets.
- India stewards global institutions such as the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster-Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
- The author argues that developing countries face bottlenecks in renewables and that the Global North exhibits a persistent failure to honour financial and technology commitments.
- Confronting the climate crisis with greater urgency is in India's own developmental and strategic interests and offers an opportunity to seek leadership of the Global South.
Background
- India made steady progress in meeting its Paris Agreement commitments, inviting both praise for early delivery and external criticism regarding target ambition.
- Developed countries have historically driven global energy transitions while failing to adequately deliver promised financial and technology support to the Global South.
- India established and stewards cooperative multilateral institutions including the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster-Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
- Global climate negotiations have consistently featured fault lines between developed nations pushing aggressive uniform targets and developing nations emphasizing sovereignty and poverty eradication.
UPSC relevance, Prelims facts and Mains angle for this issue are in the full SWAदेSH note.
Original report: Indian Express - Opinion