Non-fossil fuel sources accounted for 46 per cent of India’s installed electricity generation by October 2024, the Union environment ministry has told a UN climate agency tracking global efforts to curb Earth-warming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The ministry, in a biennial report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, has said India has continued to decouple economic growth from its GHG emissions, with the emissions intensity of its gross domestic product reducing by 36 per cent between 2005 and 2020.

The emissions intensity of the GDP measures how much GHG is emitted for every unit of economic output, a measure of how efficiently and sustainably an economy operates.

These numbers reflect Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s "commitment to aligning economic progress with meaningful climate action", Bhupendra Yadav, the Union minister for environment, forests and climate change, said in a post on X.

India had earlier pledged during climate talks that it would, by 2030, cut one billion tonnes of emissions, meet 50 per cent of its energy needs from renewable energy and reduce emissions intensity by 45 per cent, and increase non-fossil fuel energy to 500 GW from 134 GW in 2019.

The biennial report submitted by India to the UNFCCC on December 30 says the total installed renewable energy capacity, including large hydropower, is 203 GW. The cumulative renewable power capacity, excluding large hydropower, has increased 4.5 times from 35 GW in March 2014 to 156 GW.

The country’s forest and tree cover has consistently increased and currently stands at 25.17 per cent of the country’s total geographical area. Between 2005 and 2021, the expanding forest and tree cover has created an additional carbon sink of 2.29 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

"Despite India’s very low contribution to historical (GHG) emissions and the current levels of global emissions, India has taken proactive actions to combat climate change," the ministry said in a media release on Thursday, outlining the report’s contents.

China, the US and India are the world’s top GHG emitters, accounting for over 40 per cent of global emissions. Though India ranks high among emitters, its per capita GHG emissions are significantly lower than those of the top 10 GHG emitters.