Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
Was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The establishment of the IPCC was endorsed by UN General Assembly in 1988.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
IPCC is a panel of 195 member governments (that are members of the United
Nations or WMO).
Each IPCC member designates a National Focal Point. In cases where a country has
not identified a Focal Point, all correspondence from the IPCC is directed to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (E.g., India – J R Bhatt)
In 2007, the IPCC and U.S. Vice-President Al Gore were jointly awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize
IPCC : The IPCC is divided into three IPCC – Publications wrt AR6
Working Groups and a Task Force. AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change
Working Group I deals with The 2023
Physical Science Basis of Climate AR6 Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of
Change, Working Group II with Climate Change
Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation AR6 Climate Change 2022: Impacts,
and Vulnerability and Working Group Adaptation and Vulnerability
III with Mitigation of Climate Change. AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical
The main objective of the Task Force Science Basis
on National Greenhouse Gas Special Report: The Ocean and
Inventories is to develop and refine a Cryosphere in a Changing Climate-2019
methodology for the calculation and Special Report: Climate Change and Land
reporting of national greenhouse gas - August 2019
emissions and removals. Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5°C
- October 2018
 UNFCCC Principles
•equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities
•the developed country Parties should take the lead
•The specific needs and special circumstances of developing country
Parties/particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change
•precautionary principle
•Efforts to address climate change carried out cooperatively by interested Parties.
•The Parties have a right to, and should, promote sustainable development.
•Policies and measures to protect the climate system should be integrated with
national development programmes, taking into account that economic
development is essential for adopting measures to address climate change
•to promote a supportive and open international economic system
•Measures taken to combat climate change, including unilateral ones, should not
constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised
restriction on international trade.
 Paris Agreement
Adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015.
Opened for signature - 22 April 2016 (Earth Day) at UN Headquarters in New York.
Wef - 4 November 2016 ( 30 days after the so-called “double threshold”
(ratification by 55 countries that account for at least 55% of global emissions) had
been met)
The Paris Agreement requires all Parties to put forward their best efforts through
“nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in
the years ahead.
A global stocktake every 5 years to assess the collective progress.
The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris
Agreement (CMA) met for the first time in conjunction with COP 22 in Marrakesh
(in November 2016)
 Paris Agreement – Important Aspects
• Long-term temperature goal –limiting global temperature increase to well below
2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees.
• Global peaking and 'climate neutrality'– Parties aim to reach global peaking of
greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) as soon as possible, recognizing peaking will take
longer for developing country Parties.
• Mitigation – It establishes binding commitments by all Parties to prepare,
communicate and maintain a nationally determined contribution (NDC) and to
pursue domestic measures to achieve them. Parties shall communicate their NDCs
every 5 years. Each successive NDC will represent a progression beyond the
previous one and reflect the highest possible ambition. Developed countries
should continue to take the lead by undertaking absolute economy-wide reduction
targets, while developing countries should continue enhancing their mitigation
efforts, and are encouraged to move toward economy-wide targets over time in
the light of different national circumstances.
 Paris Agreement – Important Aspects
• Sinks and reservoirs – Agreement also encourages Parties to conserve and
enhance, as appropriate, sinks and reservoirs of GHGs.
• Voluntary cooperation/Market- and non-market-based approaches – The
Agreement recognizes the possibility of voluntary cooperation among Parties to
allow for higher ambition and sets out principles – including environmental
integrity, transparency and robust accounting – for any cooperation that involves
internationally transferal of mitigation outcomes.
• Adaptation – The Agreement establishes a global goal on adaptation – of
enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to
climate change in the context of the temperature goal of the Agreement. All
Parties should engage in adaptation, including by formulating and implementing
National Adaptation Plans, and should submit and periodically update an
adaptation communication describing their priorities, needs, plans and actions.
The adaptation efforts of developing countries should be recognized
 Paris Agreement – Important Aspects
• Loss and damage – Parties are to enhance understanding, action and support,
including through the Warsaw International Mechanism, on a cooperative and
facilitative basis with respect to loss and damage associated with the adverse
effects of climate change.
• Climate change education, training, public awareness, public participation and
public access to information is also to be enhanced under the Agreement.
• Transparency, implementation and compliance – The Agreement relies on a
robust transparency and accounting system to provide clarity on action and
support by Parties, with flexibility for their differing capabilities of Parties. The
Agreement also includes a mechanism that will facilitate implementation and
promote compliance in a non-adversarial and non-punitive manner, and will report
annually to the CMA.
• Global Stocktake – A “global stocktake”, to take place in 2023 and every 5 years
thereafter.
 Paris Agreement – Important Aspects
• Finance, technology and capacity-building support –Obligations of developed
countries to support the efforts of developing country Parties to build clean,
climate-resilient futures, while for the first time encouraging voluntary
contributions by other Parties. Resources should also aim to achieve a balance
between adaptation and mitigation. In addition to reporting on finance already
provided, developed country Parties commit to submit indicative information on
future support every two years, including projected levels of public finance. The
agreement also provides that the Financial Mechanism of the Convention,
including the Green Climate Fund (GCF), shall serve the Agreement. International
cooperation on climate-safe technology development and transfer and building
capacity in the developing world are also strengthened: a technology framework is
established under the Agreement and capacity-building activities will be
strengthened through, inter alia, enhanced support for capacity building actions in
developing country Parties and appropriate institutional arrangements. Climate
change education, training as well as public awareness, participation and access to
information is also to be enhanced under the Agreement.
 India’s NDC
1. Healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values
of conservation and moderation, including through a mass
movement for ‘LIFE’ – ‘Lifestyle For Environment’ as key for
Environment.
2. To adopt a climate friendly and a cleaner path than the one followed
hitherto by others at corresponding level of economic development.
3. To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45 percent by 2030
from 2005 level.
4. To achieve about 50 percent cumulative electric power installed
capacity from nonfossil fuel based energy resources by 2030 with the
help of transfer of technology and low cost international finance
including from Green Climate Fund (GCF).
 India’s NDC for for the period 2021 to 2030
5. To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2
equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
6. To better adapt to climate change by enhancing investments in
development programmes in sectors vulnerable to climate change,
particularly agriculture, water resources, Himalayan region, coastal
regions, health and disaster management.
7. To mobilize domestic and new & additional funds from developed
countries to implement the above mitigation and adaptation actions in
view of the resource required and the resource gap.
8. To build capacities, create domestic framework and international
architecture for quick diffusion of cutting edge climate technology in
India and for joint collaborative R&D for such future technologies.
 Panchamrit, to deal with this challenge
1. India will reach its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030.

2. India will meet 50% of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.

3. India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from
now onwards till 2030.

4. By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by less than 45%.

5. By the year 2070, India will achieve the target of Net Zero.

PM Modi proposed - One-Word Movement : LIFE...L, I, F, E, i.e.

Lifestyle For Environment
 COP-26
31 October to 13 November 2021
Held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
The president of the conference - UK cabinet minister Alok Sharma
Also the third meeting of the parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement (designated
CMA1, CMA2, CMA3), and the 16th meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol
(CMP16)
 COP-26
New NDCs: By the end of COP26, 151 countries had submitted new NDCs to reduce
their emissions by 2030.
Revisit 2030 Targets: The Glasgow decision calls on countries to “revisit and
strengthen” their 2030 targets by the end of 2022 to align them with the Paris
Agreement’s temperature goals. It also asks all countries that have not yet done so
to submit long-term strategies to 2050, aiming for a just transition to net-zero
emissions around mid-century. Together, stronger NDCs and long-term strategies
should help align the net-zero and 2030 targets, as well as ramping up ambition.
Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), a key component of the Paris Agreement that
aims to strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate impacts: COP26
adopted the Glasgow-Sharm el-Sheikh work programme for the GGA. This will take
place between 2022 and 2024 — to help improve assessment of progress toward
the adaptation goal and enable its implementation — through regular workshops
and work on methodologies to assess progress.
 COP-26
COP26 put the critical issue of loss and damage squarely on the main stage.
Climate change is already causing devastating losses of lives, land and livelihoods.
Financial pledges from Scotland and Wallonia (Belgium) — £2 million ($2.6 million)
and EUR 1 million ($1.1 million), respectively — to address loss and damage were
the first of their kind.
Countries also agreed to operationalize and fund the Santiago Network on Loss and
Damage, established at COP25 in Madrid, and to catalyze the technical assistance
developing countries need to address loss and damage in a robust and effective
manner.
After five years of negotiations, the world’s governments settled on the rules for
the global carbon market under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.
In Glasgow, countries were encouraged to use common timeframes for their
national climate commitments. This means that new NDCs that countries put
forward in 2025 should have an end-date of 2035, in 2030 they will put forward
commitments with a 2040 end-date, and so on.
 COP-26 - Glasgow Breakthroughs
PM Modi was among 40 leaders to back and sign up to the UK's Glasgow
Breakthroughs (GB) (Modelled on the UK's landmark Net Zero Strategy)
GB have made commitments to five statements, each relating to different
economic sectors.
•Power: Clean power is the most affordable and reliable option for all countries to
meet their power needs efficiently by 2030.
• Road Transport: Zero emission vehicles are the new normal and accessible,
affordable, and sustainable in all regions by 2030.
• Steel: Near-zero emission steel is the preferred choice in global markets, with
efficient use and near-zero emission steel production established and growing in
every region by 2030.
• Hydrogen: Affordable renewable and low carbon hydrogen is globally available by
2030.
• Agriculture: Climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture is the most attractive and
 COP-26 – other negotiations
109 countries signing up to the Global Methane Pledge to slash emissions by 30%
by 2030.
A pledge by 141 countries (as of November 10) to halt and reverse forest loss and
land degradation by 2030 (backed by $18 billion in funding, including
$1.7 billion dedicated to support indigenous peoples).
the United Kingdom announced the Glasgow Breakthroughs, a set of global targets
meant to dramatically accelerate the innovation and use of clean technologies in
five emissions-heavy sectors: power, road transport, steel, hydrogen
and agriculture.
A group of 46 countries, including the U.K., Canada, Poland and Vietnam made
commitments to phase out domestic coal, while a further 29 countries including
the U.K., Canada, Germany and Italy committed to end new direct international
public support for unabated fossil fuels by the end of 2022 and redirect this
investment to clean energy.
 COP-26 – other negotiations
The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, led by Costa Rica and Denmark — with core
members France, Greenland, Ireland, Quebec, Sweden and Wales — pledged to
end new licensing rounds for oil and gas exploration and production and set an end
date that is aligned with Paris Agreement objectives.
Over 1,000 cities and local governments joined the Cities Race to Zero to raise
climate action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C.
And around 41 cities, 34 countries and 11 major automakers agreed to work
toward selling only zero-emission vehicles globally by 2040, and by no later than
2035 in leading markets.
To help hold businesses and others accountable for achieving their net-zero goals,
UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced he is creating a high-level
expert group that will establish clear standards to measure and assess these
commitments.
 COP-26 - Glasgow Breakthroughs
PM Modi and UK PM Boris Johnson launched the ‘green grids’ initiative—the One
Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) project—on the sidelines of the COP26
summit.
The project aims to connect energy grids across borders to facilitate a faster
transition to the use of renewable energy.
India had first proposed connecting solar energy supply across borders at the
International Solar Alliance in 2018 to allow parts of the world with excess
renewable power to send power to other countries.
The proposal is aimed at addressing the issue of reliability of supply from solar
power plants, which do not generate electricity after the sun has set. A
transnational grid would allow countries to source solar power from regions where
it is daytime to meet their green energy needs even when their own installed solar
capacity is not generating energy.
 COP-27
It was held in November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
It was the fifth climate summit held in Africa, and the first since 2016.

Creation of loss-and-damage fund : Loss and damage refers to the negative

consequences that arise from the unavoidable risks of climate change, like rising
sea levels, prolonged heatwaves, desertification, the acidification of the sea and
extreme events, such as bushfires, species extinction and crop failure.
 COP-28
Held from 30 November to 13 December at Expo City, Dubai, UAE.

Before the conference, Pope Francis issued an apostolic exhortation called Laudate
Deum, calling for brisk action against the climate crisis and condemning climate
change denial.

Loss and Damage Fund was fully operationalized on the first day of the Dubai
summit. The fund is designed to help climate-vulnerable countries deal with
climate impacts that go beyond what people can adapt to. Fund is to be
administered by the World Bank.

Countries also agreed that the UN’s Office of Disaster Risk Reduction and Office for
Project Services will host the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, which will
provide critical technical assistance to vulnerable developing countries.
 COP-28
• 118 countries including Japan, Australia, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Nigeria, and
Barbados committed to tripling the global renewable energy capacity by 2030.
China and India have signaled support for tripling renewable energy by 2030,
but neither of the two adopted the overall pledge.
• One hundred and fifty nine nations (initially 134), covering nearly 80% of the
world's land, signed the COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture,
Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, committing to integrate food and
food systems into their NDCs by 2025. Signatories include major emitters and
global players in the food system, such as Argentina, Brazil, China, the EU,
Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the US. India opted out of the declaration.
• The Alliance of Champions for Food Systems Transformation (ACF) also
launched. Member countries including Brazil, Cambodia, Norway, Sierra Leone
and Rwanda pledged a “whole of government” approach to drive faster action
towards the goals of the UAE declaration.
 Race to Zero
Race To Zero is a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses,
cities, regions, investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents
future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.

It mobilizes a coalition of leading net zero initiatives, representing 733 cities, 31

regions, 3,067 businesses, 173 of the biggest investors, and 622 Higher Education
Institutions. These ‘real economy’ actors join 120 countries in the largest ever
alliance committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.
Collectively these actors now cover nearly 25% global CO2 emissions and over 50%
GDP.
Race To Zero mobilizes actors outside of national governments to join the Climate
Ambition Alliance, which was launched at the UNSG’s Climate Action Summit 2019
by the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera.
 Mission Innovation
It was announced at COP21 on 30 November Earlier Missions :
2015 by President Obama of the United States 1. Smart grids
on behalf of founder countries. 2. Off-grid access to electricity
Mission Innovation is a global initiative 3. Carbon capture
catalysing a decade of action and investment 4. Sustainable biofuels
in research, development and demonstration 5. Converting sunlight into solar
to make clean energy affordable, attractive fuels
and accessible for all. This will accelerate 6. Clean energy materials to
progress towards the Paris Agreement goals sequester carbon in useful
and pathways to net zero. materials
Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 7. Affordable heating & cooling
22 countries and the European Commission of buildings
(on behalf of the European Union). 8. Renewable and clean
Includes India hydrogen
 Mission Innovation 2.0
1. Green Powered Future Mission: Goal: To demonstrate that by 2030 power systems in
different geographies and climates are able to effectively integrate up to 100% variable
renewable energies in their generation mix and maintain a cost-efficient, secure and resilient
system.
2. Zero Emission Shipping Mission: Goal: For ships capable of running on zero-emission fuels to
make up at least 5% of the global deep-sea fleet by 2030,We will crystalize an ambitious
alliance between countries.
3. Clean Hydrogen Mission: Goal: To increase the cost-competitiveness of clean hydrogen by
reducing end-to-end costs to USD 2 per kilogram by 2030.
4. Carbon Dioxide Removal Mission: Goal: To enable Carbon Dioxide Removal technologies to
achieve a net reduction of 100 million metric tons of CO2 per year globally by 2030.
5. Urban Transitions Mission: Goal: By 2030, deliver at least 50 large-scale, integrated
demonstration projects in urban environments around the world, providing a pathway for all
cities to adopt net-zero carbon solutions as the default option.
6. Net Zero Industries Mission
7. Integrated Biorefineries Mission
 Breakthrough Energy
Established in 2015 by Bill Gates and a coalition of private investors concerned
about the impacts of accelerating climate change, Breakthrough Energy supports
the innovations that will lead the world to net-zero emissions.
Non Governmental / Private Sector
At the COP-21 of UNFCCC in November 2015, Gates announced that a coalition of
28 high net-worth investors from ten countries had committed to the
Breakthrough Energy initiative.
Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) INFRASTRUCTURE
Launched by PM Modi at UN Climate Action Summit 2019. FOR RESILIENT
CDRI is a partnership of national governments, UN ISLAND STATES
agencies and programmes, multilateral development (IRIS)
banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and A Dedicated
knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience initiative co-curated
of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and by Small Island
disaster risks in support of sustainable development. Developing States
CDRI’s strategic priorities include: Technical Support and (SIDS) and CDRI
Capacity-building; Research and Knowledge Management; partners to promote
Advocacy and Partnerships resilient,
sustainable, and
CDRI's initial focus is on developing disaster-resilience in
inclusive
ecological, social, and economic infrastructure.
infrastructure
Secretariat - Delhi
development in
SIDS.
2019 UN Climate Action 2014 UN Climate Action Summit
Summit Also Called as the Leader's Climate
UN Secretary-General Summit
Antonio Guterres convened Held in New York on September 23,
Held at the UN 2014
headquarters in New York UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
City on 23 September 2019. Focus was on initiatives and actions
Theme - "Climate Action rather than on negotiations
Summit 2019: A Race We between countries
Can Win. A Race We Must One of direct outcomes of the
Win.“ Summit was the New York
Declaration on Forests.
 New York Declaration on Forests
It is a voluntary and non-legally binding declaration
Declaration pledges to halve the rate of deforestation by 2020, to end it
by 2030.
Restore 150 million hectares of degraded landscapes and forestlands by
2020 and significantly increase the rate of global restoration thereafter,
which would restore at least an additional 200 million hectares by 2030.
The Declaration is endorsed by some of governments, some of the
world’s biggest companies, and influential civil society and indigenous
organizations.
Achieving these outcomes could reduce emissions by 4.5-8.8 billion tons
per year by 2030.
India – Did Not Endorse
 Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA)
PPCA is a coalition of national and subnational governments, businesses
and organisations working to advance the transition from unabated coal
power generation to clean energy.
PPCA Declaration includes a commitment to phase out coal by 2030 in
the OECD and EU, and by no later than 2050 in the rest of the world.
The Canadian and the UK governments launched PPCA at UNFCCC COP-
23, in Bonn, Germany, in November 2017.
India, china - Not Members
 United Nations Global Compact
It was announced by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1999 WEF
Address, Officially launched in NY on 26 July 2000
It is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and
firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies,
and to report on their implementation.
The Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact
10 Principles are derived from: the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at
Work, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the
UN Convention Against Corruption.
 The International Solar Alliance (ISA)
Launched by India and France to mobilize efforts against climate change through
deployment of solar energy solutions.
On the sidelines of the COP21 to UNFCCC held in Paris in 2015.
With the amendment of its Framework Agreement in 2020, all member states of
the United Nations are now eligible to join the ISA.
The ISA is guided by its ‘Towards 1000’ strategy which aims to mobilise USD 1,000
billion of investments in solar energy solutions by 2030, while delivering energy
access to 1,000 million people using clean energy solutions and resulting in
installation of 1,000 GW of solar energy capacity. This would help mitigate global
solar emissions to the tune of 1,000 million tonnes of CO2 every year.
Secretariat - Gurugram, Haryana
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group The World Business Council for
Founded – 2005 in London Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
It is a group of 97 cities
It is focused on fighting climate Estd – 1995
change and driving urban action that HQ – Geneva
reduces greenhouse gas It is a CEO-led organization of over 200
emissions and climate risks, while international companies.
increasing the health, wellbeing and Vision 2050: Time to Transform sets a
economic opportunities of urban shared vision of a world in which more
citizens. than 9 billion people are able to live well,
From India: Chennai; Jaipur; Kolkata; within planetary boundaries, by 2050.
Mumbai; New Delhi; Bengaluru
 Global Environment Facility (GEF)
It was established on the eve of the Rio Earth Summit to tackle our planet’s most
pressing environmental problems. Since then, it has provided more than $21.7
billion in grants and mobilized an additional $119 billion in co-financing for more
than 5,000 projects and programs.
The GEF is the largest multilateral trust fund focused on enabling developing
countries to invest in nature, and supports the implementation of major
international environmental conventions including on biodiversity, climate change,
chemicals, and desertification.
It brings together 184 member governments in addition to civil society,
international organizations, and private sector partners.
Through its Small Grants Programme, the GEF has provided support to more than
26,000 civil society and community initiatives in 135 countries.
 Global Environment Facility (GEF)
GEF funds are available to developing countries and countries with economies in
transition seeking to meet the objectives of international environmental
conventions and agreements. Support is provided to government agencies, civil
society organizations, private sector companies, research institutions, among other
partners, to implement projects and programs related to environmental
conservation, protection, and renewal.
GEF Fund contributions are replenished every four years (GEF Replenishment) by
the 40 GEF donor countries.
The World Bank serves as the GEF Trustee, administering the GEF Trust Fund
(contributions by donors).
The GEF administers several trust funds and provides secretariat services, on an
interim basis, for the Adaptation Fund.
 Global Environment Facility (GEF)
• The GEF Assembly is composed of all 184 member countries, or Participants. It
meets every three to four years at the ministerial level to review general policies
• The GEF Council, GEF's main governing body, comprises 32 Members appointed
by constituencies of GEF member countries (14 from developed countries, 16
from developing countries and 2 from economies in transition)
• GEF Secretariat - Washington, D.C, United States of America
• The GEF serves as "financial mechanism" to five conventions: Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), UNFCCC, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs), UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and
Minamata Convention on Mercury.
• The GEF, although not linked formally to the MP, supports implementation of the
Protocol in Countries with Economies in Transition.
 Other Funds managed by the GEF
Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF)
LDCF estd. under UNFCCC addresses the special needs of the Least Developed
Countries (LDCs) that are especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate
change.
The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF)
Created at the 2001 COP to UNFCCC
Fund supports adaptation and technology transfer in all developing country parties
to UNFCCC, supporting both long-term and short-term adaptation activities in
water resources management, land management, agriculture, health,
infrastructure development, fragile ecosystems, including mountainous
ecosystems, and integrated coastal zone management.
 Framework for acceptance of Green Deposits
To encourage regulated entities (REs) to offer green deposits to customers, protect
interest of the depositors, aid customers to achieve their sustainability agenda,
address greenwashing concerns and help augment the flow of credit to green
activities/projects, RBI released a Framework for acceptance of Green Deposits.
Although it is yet not mandatory for the financial institutions such as banks and
non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs) to raise green deposits, if they do, they
are supposed to follow the framework made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Green deposit” means an interest-bearing deposit, received by the regulated

entities for a fixed period and the proceeds of which are earmarked for being
allocated towards green finance.
Green activities/projects
Renewable Energy: Solar/wind/biomass/hydropower energy projects that integrate
energy generation and storage; Incentivizing adoption of renewable energy;
Energy Efficiency :Design and construction of energy-efficient and energy-saving
systems and installations in buildings and properties; Supporting lighting
improvements (e.g. replacement with LEDs); Supporting construction of new low-
carbon buildings as well as energy-efficiency retrofits to existing buildings; Projects to
reduce electricity grid losses.
Clean Transportation: Projects promoting electrification of transportation; Adoption
of clean fuels like electric vehicles including building charging infrastructure
Climate Change Adaptation: Projects aimed at making infrastructure more resilient to
impacts of climate change; Sustainable Water and Waste Management; Promoting
water efficient irrigation systems; Installation/upgradation of wastewater
infrastructure including transport, treatment and disposal systems; Water resources
conservation; Flood defence systems.
Pollution Prevention and Control: Projects targeting reduction of air emissions,
greenhouse gas control, soil remediation, waste management, waste prevention,
waste recycling, waste reduction and energy/emission-efficient waste-to-energy
Green Buildings: Projects related to buildings that meet regional, national or
internationally recognized standards or certifications for environmental
performance.
Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources and Land Use:
Environmentally sustainable management of agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery
and aquaculture; Sustainable forestry management including
afforestation/reforestation; Support to certified organic farming; Research on living
resources and biodiversity protection.
Terrestrial and Aquatic Biodiversity Conservation: Projects relating to coastal and
marine environments; Projects related to biodiversity preservation, including
conservation of endangered species, habitats and ecosystems.
Exclusions: Not Considered as Green Projects under the framework
• Projects involving new or existing extraction, production and distribution of fossil
fuels, including improvements and upgrades; or where the core energy source is
fossil-fuel based.
• Nuclear power generation.
• Direct waste incineration.
• Alcohol, weapons, tobacco, gaming, or palm oil industries.
• Renewable energy projects generating energy from biomass using feedstock
originating from protected areas.
• Landfill projects.
• Hydropower plants larger than 25 MW.