India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)

India’s climate response is not random or isolated schemes. It is anchored in a comprehensive national framework called the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

📌 What is NAPCC?

The NAPCC was published in 2008 by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change.

Its central philosophy is:

Use of new technologies + institutional reforms + societal participation to address climate change.

📌 Core Emphasis

The Plan stresses:

• Adaptation to climate change
• Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions
• Energy efficiency
• Conservation of natural resources
• Awareness and behavioural change

It adopts a multi-stakeholder approach involving → Government, Public–Private Partnerships, Civil society

Eight National Missions under NAPCC

The NAPCC is operationalised through eight National Missions, each addressing a critical climate-related sector.

The Eight Core Missions

1. National Solar Mission
2. National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
3. National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
4. National Water Mission
5. National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem
6. National Mission for a Green India
7. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
8. National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

📌 Important Additions (but not formally part yet):

• National Bio-Energy Mission (approved in 2017, not legally included)
• National Coastal Mission (under consideration)

👉 UPSC often tests this distinction: “approved vs formally included”.

National Solar Mission (JNNSM)

📌 Background

The National Solar Mission, also called the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), was launched in 2010.

🎯 Objectives

• Establish India as a global leader in solar energy
• Promote sustainable economic growth
• Strengthen energy security
• Reduce dependence on fossil fuels

📊 Phased Implementation

JNNSM was planned in three phases:

Phase	Period
Phase I	2010–2013
Phase II	2013–2017
Phase III	2017–2022

🔋 Installed Capacity Target

• 100 GW (100,000 MW) by 2022

Break-up proposed by MNRE:

• 40 GW → Rooftop Solar Projects
• 60 GW → Large and Medium Scale Solar Projects

This rooftop–utility scale balance is crucial for decentralised energy transition.

Domestic Content Controversy (Very Important for Prelims & Mains)

📌 What was the issue?

Under JNNSM guidelines:

• Crystalline silicon PV cells and modules had to be manufactured in India
• These components account for over 60% of total system cost
• For solar thermal projects, at least 30% domestic content was mandated

⚔️ Conflict of Interests

• Project developers wanted → Cheaper imports, Advanced global technology
• Indian manufacturers wanted → Domestic procurement, Protection for the nascent solar industry

🌍 WTO Dispute

The United States Trade Representative challenged India’s domestic content requirement at the World Trade Organization, arguing it discriminated against US exports.

📌 Outcome:

• WTO ruled in favour of the USA
• India had to roll back mandatory domestic content provisions

👉 This case highlights the tension between climate policy and global trade rules.

Types of Solar PV Modules

Understanding technology basics strengthens answers.

Crystalline Silicon PV Modules

• High cost
• High conversion efficiency
• Widely used in utility-scale projects

Amorphous Silicon PV Modules

• Lower cost
• Lower conversion efficiency
• Suitable where space is not a constraint

National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE)

This mission complements renewable energy by ensuring energy is not wasted.

🎯 Objective

To promote energy efficiency using → Market mechanisms, Innovative policy instruments

💰 Market Potential

• NMEEE (2010) estimated efficiency potential: ₹74,000 crore
• World Bank later estimated market size: ₹1.6 lakh crore

Four Key Initiatives under NMEEE

1. Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT)

• Targets large energy-intensive industries
• Assigns specific energy reduction targets
• Industries achieving targets earn Energy Saving Certificates (ESCerts)

📌 Trading Mechanism:

• Overachievers sell ESCerts
• Underachievers buy ESCerts to comply

👉 This is India’s cap-and-trade model for energy efficiency.

2. Market Transformation for Energy Efficiency (MTEE)

Promotes adoption of efficient appliances using innovative business models.

Key Programs:

• UJALA: Mass adoption of LED lighting
• Super-Efficient Equipment Programme (SEEP) → Government incentivises manufacturers to produce ultra-efficient appliances
• BEE Fan Programme:
  • Focused on ceiling fans due to high household electricity use
  • Implemented during the XII Five-Year Plan

3. Energy Efficiency Financing Platform (EEFP)

📌 Objective

• Build confidence among banks and investors
• Address financial and implementation barriers

EEFP acts as a bridge between financiers and project developers, helping scale up energy efficiency investments.

4. Framework for Energy Efficiency Economic Development (FEEED)

This initiative reduces investment risk, a major hurdle in energy efficiency projects.

Two Dedicated Funds:

1. Partial Risk Guarantee Fund for Energy Efficiency (PRGFEE)

• Risk covers up to:
  • 50% of loan amount, or
  • ₹10 crore per project, whichever is less

2. Venture Capital Fund for Energy Efficiency (VCFEE)

• Promotes equity financing
• Support up to:
  • ₹2 crore, or
  • 15% of total equity

👉 Together, these funds ensure projects do not stall due to financial hesitation.

National Mission on Sustainable Habitat (NMSH)

Urban areas are both major contributors to climate change and highly vulnerable to it. This mission addresses that dual challenge.

📌 Background & Aim

The National Mission on Sustainable Habitat was approved in 2010.
Its core objective is to make Indian cities energy-efficient, climate-resilient, and environmentally sustainable.

🔑 Key Focus Areas

🏢 Energy-Efficient Buildings

• Expansion of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC)
• Applicable to:
  • New buildings
  • Large commercial buildings
    👉 Reduces long-term urban energy demand.

🚍 Sustainable Urban Planning & Transport

• Emphasis on:
  • Efficient public transport
  • Reduced congestion and emissions
• Supports the growth of medium and small cities, reducing pressure on megacities.

♻️ Solid and Liquid Waste Management

• Scientific recycling
• Improved urban waste management
• Reduction of methane emissions from landfills

🌪️ Climate Adaptation & Disaster Preparedness

• Enhancing cities’ capacity to adapt to climate change
• Improving early warning systems for → Heat waves, Floods, Extreme rainfall events

⚖️ Legal & Regulatory Reforms

• Conservation through → Updated laws, Better urban regulations

🏛️ Implementation Mechanism

The mission is implemented through flagship programmes of the Ministry of Urban Development:
1. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
2. Swachh Bharat Mission
3. Smart Cities Mission
4. Urban Transport Programme

National Water Mission (NWM)

Water is the most climate-sensitive resource. Hence, this mission focuses on efficiency, equity and sustainability.

🎯 Objective

To ensure Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) by:

• Conserving water
• Minimising wastage
• Ensuring equitable distribution within and across states
  
  

📜 Alignment with National Water Policy

The mission aims to:

• 💧 Increase water-use efficiency by 20%
• ♻️ Meet a significant portion of urban water demand through recycling
• 🌊 Supply coastal cities using desalination technologies
• 🗺️ Promote basin-level water management, accounting for rainfall variability
  
  

🛠️ Implementation Strategies

Regulatory Measures

• Differential water entitlements
• Rational pricing to discourage wastage

Supply Augmentation

• Enhanced storage → Surface reservoirs, Groundwater recharge
• Rainwater harvesting

Efficient Irrigation Technologies

• Promotion of → Drip irrigation, Sprinkler irrigation, Ridge and Furrow irrigation

📌 Ridge and Furrow Irrigation:
Crops are grown on raised ridges, while furrows carry irrigation water, reducing water loss and improving efficiency.

National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE)

The Himalayas are India’s climatic regulator and water tower. Climate change here has pan-Indian consequences.

🎯 Core Objectives

• Continuous assessment of the health of the Himalayan ecosystem
• Scientific inputs for:
  • Policy formulation
  • State-level sustainable development in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)

🌄 Key Areas Covered

• Himalayan glaciers and cryosphere
• Natural hazard prediction (landslides, GLOFs, earthquakes)
• Biodiversity and wildlife conservation
• Traditional knowledge systems
• Livelihood security of mountain communities

🌡️ Climate Change Impacts on Himalayan Hydrology

• ☀️ Fewer rainy days → drought-like conditions
• 🌧️ Higher rainfall intensity → floods
• 💧 Groundwater quality deterioration in alluvial aquifers
• 🔄 Altered groundwater recharge due to precipitation and evaporation changes
• 🌊 Saline intrusion in coastal and island aquifers due to sea-level rise

👉 Shows how mountain processes affect plains and coasts—a favourite UPSC linkage.

National Mission for a Green India (GIM)

This mission represents India’s nature-based climate solution.

🎯 Carbon Sequestration Target

• 2.523 billion tonnes of CO₂ during 2020–2030
• Expansion/improvement of forest and tree cover over 30 million hectares

🌳 Key Objectives

• Protect and restore degraded forests
• Combine adaptation + mitigation
• Increase annual CO₂ sequestration by → 50–60 million tonnes

🤝 Community-Centric Approach

• Implemented on → Public land and Private land
• Local communities involved in → Planning, Decision-making, Monitoring

📈 Intended Major Outcomes

• Improved ecosystem services
• Reversal of land degradation
• Enhanced quality of forest cover
• Restoration of → Grasslands, Wetlands, Mangroves, Cold deserts, Ravines, Abandoned mining areas
• Urban forestry
• Agroforestry & social forestry on non-forest lands

👉 This mission directly links climate action with livelihoods.

National Mission on Seabuckthorn (Sub-Mission)

📌 Background

Launched by Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change and Defence Research and Development Organisation, this initiative operates under:

• Sub-Mission on Cold Desert Ecosystems
• Green India Mission

🌱 Seabuckthorn: The “Wonder Plant”

Also known as → Leh berries, Ladakh gold

🌟 Why Seabuckthorn is Important?

• Medicinal and nutritional value
• Nitrogen-fixing plant
• Highly tolerant to extreme cold and heat
• Deep root system:
  • Controls soil erosion
  • Prevents desertification

👉 A classic example of climate adaptation + livelihood generation + ecosystem restoration.

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)

Climate change impacts agriculture first and hardest, especially in countries like India where farming is monsoon-dependent.

📌 Why is NMSA Important?

• Nearly 60% of India’s net sown area is rainfed
• Rainfed areas contribute around 40% of total food production
• These regions are:
  • Highly vulnerable to rainfall variability
  • Prone to droughts, floods, and soil degradation

👉 Therefore, climate-resilient agriculture is essential for food security.

🎯 Core Objective

The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) aims to:

• Enhance agricultural productivity
• Improve resilience to climate variability
• Especially focus on rainfed and vulnerable regions

🌾 Key Focus Areas

NMSA promotes:

• Integrated farming systems (crop + livestock + fisheries)
• Water use efficiency
• Soil health improvement
• Natural resource conservation

📐 Ten Stated Dimensions of NMSA

These dimensions show that NMSA is not only a farming mission but a livelihood mission:
1. Improved crop seeds, livestock, and fish cultures
2. Water use efficiency
3. Pest management
4. Improved farm practices
5. Nutrient management
6. Agricultural insurance
7. Credit support
8. Market access
9. Access to information
10. Livelihood diversification

Soil Health Management (SHM)

Healthy soil is the foundation of climate-resilient agriculture.

🎯 Objective of SHM

Soil Health Management aims to:

• Promote Integrated Nutrient Management (INM):
  • Balanced use of chemical fertilisers
  • Organic manures
  • Bio-fertilisers
• Strengthen soil testing infrastructure
• Enable soil test–based fertiliser recommendations

👉 This reduces input costs and environmental damage.

Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme

The Soil Health Card Scheme was implemented in 2015 to institutionalise soil testing at the farm level. Read More.

National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC)

If NMSA deals with action on the ground, NMSKCC deals with knowledge behind the action.

🎯 Core Objective

The National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC) aims to:

• Build a robust national knowledge system
• Support policy formulation
• Enable India to respond to climate change without compromising development goals

📚 Mission Objectives

• Creation of knowledge networks engaged in climate-related R&D
• Development of national capacity for regional climate modelling
• Promotion of research on climate change impacts on → Agriculture, Health, Ecosystems, Biodiversity, Coastal zones, Socio-economic sectors

👉 This mission ensures evidence-based climate governance.

Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment (INCCA)

To reduce dependence on foreign climate assessments, India launched INCCA.

📌 About INCCA

The Indian Network on Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) was launched by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change to:
➡️Promote indigenous climate research
➡️Generate India-specific climate impact assessments

📄 Role of INCCA Reports

• INCCA reports contribute to India’s:
  • National Communication (NATCOM)
  • Submissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

👉 This strengthens India’s negotiating position in global climate forums.

National Communication (NATCOM)

📌 What is NATCOM?

• National Communication is a mandatory reporting requirement under the UNFCCC
• India’s Initial National Communication was initiated in 2002
• Funded by the Global Environment Facility

📌 Purpose

• Report national greenhouse gas inventories
• Describe mitigation and adaptation actions
• Communicate constraints and needs of developing countries