Context: New research by the Lancet Planetary Health Journal highlights the benefits to health if countries adopt to climate plans that are consistent with the aim of Paris Agreement.

About the findings
The study indicates that adopting policies that are consistent with achieving the Paris Agreement and prioritizing health could save:

• 6.4 million lives due to better diet
• 1.6 million lives due to cleaner air
• 2.1 million lives due to increased exercise.

The countries considered in the study represent 50 per cent of the world’s population and 70 per cent of the world’s emissions – Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK and the US.

Paris Agreement

• Paris Agreement is an international agreement to combat climate change reached on the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP).
• More than 190 nations meeting in Paris in December 2015 reached a landmark agreement to strengthen the global climate effort.
• The Paris Agreement commits countries to undertake “nationally determined contributions” and establishes mechanisms to hold them accountable and to strengthen ambition in the years ahead.

Objective

• Keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.
• Pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• Strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.

Long Term Goal

• A long-term global goal for net zero emissions. Countries have promised to try to bring global emissions down from peak levels as soon as possible.
• More significantly, they pledged “to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century”.

Mechanism

• Before the conference started, more than 180 countries had submitted pledges to cut or curb their carbon emissions through Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
• The INDCs were recognized under the agreement, but are not legally binding.

Funding

• It stipulates that developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation. Other Parties are encouraged to provide or continue to provide such support voluntarily.

What are Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)?

• Intended Nationally Determined Contributions are reductions or intended reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by a country under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• The Paris Agreement requires all Parties to put forward their best efforts through NDCs and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead.
• The National pledges by countries to cut emissions are voluntary and the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Agreement will be assessed after 5 years.

India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)

• India’s INDC include a reduction in the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level.
• 40 per cent share of non-fossil fuel-based electricity by 2030.
• India has also pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.