Policies to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals
The government has formulated policies to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to mitigate the effect of Climate Change and build Sustainable cities and communities. The Government is implementing National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) which provides an overarching policy framework for all climate actions.
NAPCC comprises of eight core Missions in specific areas of:
- Solar energy
- Enhanced energy efficiency
- Sustainable habitat
- Water
- Sustaining Himalayan ecosystems
- Green India
- Sustainable agriculture and
- Strategic knowledge for climate change
33 States and Union Territories have prepared State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) consistent with the objectives of NAPCC. Despite having no binding obligation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), India announced its voluntary goal to reduce the emission intensity of its GDP by 20-25% by 2020 in comparison to 2005 level. India has achieved 24% reduction in emission intensity of its GDP between 2005 and 2016.
Under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which is a national level strategy to reduce air pollution levels across the country, City Specific Clean Air Action Plans have been prepared and rolled out for implementation in 132 non-attainment and million plus cities. These action plans focus on city specific short/ medium/ long term actions to control air pollution from sources such as vehicular emission, road dust, burning of biomass/ crop/ garbage/ Municipal Solid Waste, landfills, construction activities, industrial emission. Several Flagship schemes/missions or programmes to implement SDG 11 by other ministries are Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM-U), Atal Mission for rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) and Metro Rail Projects. The government also supports the 10-Year Framework Programme on Sustainable Consumption and Production, for which Ministry had published draft notification of regulation on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Waste Tyre for receiving comments from public and ‘Guidelines on the EPR for Plastic Packaging’ under Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 has been notified. Recently the ministry has put ban on Single Use Plastics to make the environment healthier.
