Lok Sabha Question No. 2639 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-06
Subject: Climate Change Action Plans
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Chinta Anuradha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2639 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.03.2020

## Climate Change Action Plans

## 2639. SHRIMATI CHINTA ANURADHA:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  government  has  recently  instructed  the  State  Governments  and  Union Territories to prepare climate change action plans consistent with the National Action Plan;
- (b) if so, the details of thereof;
- (c) whether the multiple environmental crises, that confront the country, have created an alarming situation in many ways; and
- (d) if  so,  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  provide  special  assistance  to  the  State Governments/UTs for the purpose?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO )

(a) and (b)State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs) are already in place for 33 States and Union Territories of the country. SAPCC is a policy document wherein States and Union Territories have  indicated  their  sector  specific  and  cross  sectoral  priority  actions  for combating climate change. Recently, the Ministry has requested the States/UTs to initiate the process of revision of SAPCCs to achieve coherence between the post 2020 climate actions at national and sub-national level.

(c) and (d) The Government has taken several steps to address air pollution, water pollution and  land  pollution,  whichincludes,  inter-alia,  notification  of  National  Ambient  Air  Quality Standards, revision of emission standards for industrial sectors from time to time, setting up of  monitoring  network  for  assessment  of  ambient  air  quality,  introduction  of  cleaner  / alternate fuels like gaseous fuel (CNG, LPG etc.), launching of National Air Quality Index, leapfrogging  from  BS-IV  to  BS-VI  fuel  standards,  notification  of  waste  management rulescovering solid waste, plastic waste, e-waste, bio-medical waste, construction  & demolition waste and hazardous wastes, banning biomass burning, streamlining the issuance of Pollution Under Control Certificate, issuance of directions under Section 18(1)(b) of Air (Prevention  and  Control  of  Pollution)  Act,  1981  and  under  Section  5  of  Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for controlling air pollution, installation of on-line continuous (24x7) monitoring  devices  by  major  industries,  notification  of  Graded  Response  Action  Plan (GRAP) for Delhi and NCR, Comprehensive Action Plan (CAP) for air pollution control in Delhi  and  NCR,  formulation  of  National  Clean  Air  Programme  (NCAP),  organization  of clean air campaigns, etc.

The  other  steps  include,  inter-alia,  implementation  of  National  Action  Plan  on  Climate Change  along  with  its  eight  missions;  National  Adaptation  Fund  for  Climate  Change; National  Afforestation  Programme;  Compensatory  Afforestation  Fund;  Namami  Gange Programme; Jal Shakti Abhiyan; Swachh Bharat Mission, etc.

As a result, there has been an overall improvement in air quality of Delhi with number of 'Good'  to  'Moderate'  days  increasing  to  182  in  2019,  as  compared  to  108  in  2016.  With reference to PM10 and PM2.5, 18 and 12 cities respectively, have showed a decreasing trend. As per ambient air quality data (2014-2018), most of the cities across the country have been found complying to National Standards with respect to parameters for SO2 and NO2. India is one of the few countries where forest and tree cover has increased. India has achieved 21% reduction in emission intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2005 and 2014, thereby achieving its pre-2020 voluntary goals of reducing emission intensity of its GDP by 20 to 25% from 2005 levels.

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