India’s record positions it for climate leadership

The impacts of the climate crisis are uneven, with poor and developing countries bearing the brunt. India is one of the most climate-impacted countries globally. According to Down to Earth, in 2024, India experienced extreme weather events — including floods, droughts, heat waves, rainfall and temperature variability and glacial melt—on 322 days. According to Germanwatch’s Climate Risk Index 2025, India has lost more than 80,000 lives and suffered more than 180 billion dollars to extreme weather events in the last three decades.

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Despite not being a historical contributor to the climate crisis — with per capita carbon emissions far below the global average at the present moment too— India’s engagement with the climate agenda is immensely proactive. Indian leadership is of the view that development without climate considerations is not viable. Its climate approach has been mainstreamed in the wider developmental goals for sectors such as agriculture, water, coasts, forests, energy, infrastructure, education, and health. It has adopted ambitious and meaningful climate, energy, and adaptation goals in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Long Term Low Emission Development Strategy (LTLEDS), while setting a net-zero goal for 2070. In the national context, this has translated into a wide array of welfare schemes, programmes and missions.