India will ratify Paris climate deal on October 2: Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his speech at the BJP council meet in Kozhikode on Sunday, said India will ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change on October 2. "India will ratify the decision on October 2 - the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi." The announcement comes as a surprise as earlier in September, during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, India had signalled that it may not ratify the climate deal before 2016 due to "domestic processes".

During the Paris climate conference in 2015, India committed to scale up its non-fossil fuel share to 40% and aimed to reduce emission intensity or emission per unit of gross domestic product by 33-35% by 2030. With Modi's announcement, India, the world's 4th largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for 4.1% of global emissions, is now set to join the US, China and Brazil in ratifying the deal.

The Paris deal will come into effect in 2020 and will be enforced after at least 55 countries, which contribute to 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions, officially ratify it. So far, 61 countries, accounting for 48% of global greenhouse gas emissions, have ratified the deal. The European Union, South Africa, Australia and Japan are yet to ratify the deal. Sources said the EU is likely to take a final call on the ratification date in the first week of October.

While several countries require the approval of the executive and Parliament for ratifying international agreements or treaties, in India, the power lies solely with the executive. An approval from the Union cabinet will seal the deal on the Paris agreement. Once the cabinet approves it, India will have to physically deposit the instrument of ratification to legally join the Paris agreement.

Following PM Modi's announcement, environment, forest and climate change minister Anil Dave said, "India will stand by the commitments made in Paris and we are taking a big step in that direction by deciding to ratify the Paris deal. If globally temperatures rise above the 2 degree-Celsius mark, island countries like Tuvalu will be the first to submerge. PM Modi has made this decision keeping in mind the aspirations and welfare of the country and its people," said Dave.

Commentators lauded India's decision to join the deal in 2016. "The decision will reflect well on India's leadership in the global climate negotiations," said Harjeet Singh, International Climate Policy Manager, ActionAid.

India aims to reduce emission intensity or emission per unit of gross domestic product by 33-35% by 2030, from the 2005 levels. Ahead of the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit, India had committed to reduce its emissions intensity by 20-25%, and the environment ministry said that it has already achieved a 12% reduction.

In 2015, India announced a paradigm shift in its renewable energy production targets and decided to scale up the target of renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by 2022. Of this, 100 GW would come from solar energy, 60GW from wind energy, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power.

India signed the Paris agreement on April 22 along with 170 other countries.

The Indian government had hinted that it will use the ratification of Paris deal as leverage for membership in the exclusive Nuclear Suppliers Group. In NSG meeting in June, China snubbed India's chances to get a seat in NSG.

During the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, US and China jointly announced the ratification of the Paris deal. But, India did not follow suit.

Russia (7.5% of global emissions), Japan (3.79%), and Germany (2.56%) are yet to join the deal.

President Barack Obama ratified the deal through an executive order using the sole-executive agreement instead of getting it passed through Congress. But, if Donald Trump, who is a climate change denier, is voted to power, he can revoke US' ratification of the deal.