“Today, the Union cabinet approved the ratification of Paris agreement which is a historic decision. India will be one of the key countries instrumental in bringing the historic Paris agreement into force,” human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar said.

The decision to ratify the accord reached last year underlines India’s commitment to the cause of environmental protection, said Javadekar, a former environment minister. India will submit the ratification documents to the United Nations on 2 October.

Javadekar noted that India had also submitted its voluntary action plan to cut down carbon emissions on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.

India has committed itself to reducing the emissions intensity of its gross domestic product by 33-35% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and generate 40% of its cumulative electric power from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources

On 25 September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the national council meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kozhikode, Kerala, that India would ratify the Paris climate agreement on 2 October, saying there was no better way to celebrate the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, who lived an austere life that left a minimum carbon footprint.

The ratification precedes the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 7-18 November.

The Paris Agreement comes into force on the 30th day after the date on which at least 55 parties to the convention, accounting for at least 55% of the total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, submit their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval.

According to the UNFCCC, India accounts for 4.1% of the world’s GHG emissions. So far, 61 countries accounting for 47.79% of global GHG emissions have ratified the Paris agreement. With India ratifying it, the proportion will reach 51.89%. The 55% target is expected to be achieved soon.

Parties to the Paris accord committed themselves to limiting global warming to well below 2°C.

“It will become an irreversible course of action for humankind. It is a common resolve to keep temperature rise below two degrees Celsius. Now that target is achievable,” said Javadekar.

Some 190 countries reached the global climate deal in December 2015 aimed at avoiding potentially hazardous climate change. Developed countries pledged $100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2020 with a commitment to further raise it in the future.

Now that India has played its part, it will forcefully demand that developed countries fulfil their commitments in the run-up to 2020, when the Paris agreement takes force, said Javadekar.

“While agreeing to ratify the Paris Agreement, the Cabinet has also decided that India should declare that India will treat its national laws, its development agenda, availability of means of implementation, its assessment of global commitment to combating climate change, and predictable and affordable access to cleaner source of energy as the context in which the Agreement is being ratified,” said an official statement.

Meanwhile, Javadekar also made it clear that India would not be part of the proposed Global Market-Based Measures (GMBM) that are being discussed at the ongoing International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) assembly in Montreal. GMBM, mooted by UN body ICAO, seeks to reduce carbon emission in the aviation sector.

“There is an attempt to bring a cap on emissions in civil aviation by 2020. That is the proposal and we said that for the developing world, the proposal is unfair... When it (economy) is growing, you cannot cap our emissions from aviation... A cap by 2020 will be injustice,” said Javadekar after the Union Cabinet meeting which also discussed the GMBM issue.

“There are more scientific ways to deal with it. We have not reached the stage of the developed world... We cannot put a stop to our growth and therefore we have decided to put India’s viewpoints very strongly,” the HRD minister said.