India stayed away from the UK-led accord on stopping deforestation and declined to ratify the US and EU's "Global Methane Pledge," which aims to reduce global methane emissions by 30% over 2020 levels by 2030. The primary gas driving climate change, CO2, has a lifetime of 100–1,000 years, according to the 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
In response to a question from the Parliament, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change stated that "this pledge shifts the responsibility of CO2 reduction to methane reduction, which has a lifetime of just 12 years."
India’s Firm Stance
The government recently provided the Parliament with a thorough justification for its refusal to sign the methane commitment. Paddy agriculture and "enteric fermentation" (methane from animal intestines) are the two primary sources of methane emissions in India (from standing water). These emissions are a result of small, marginal, and medium-sized Indian farmers' agricultural activities, whose ability to support themselves is jeopardized by the pledge.
India is the biggest producer and exporter of rice. Therefore, this vow may also impact India's chances for trade and economic growth. According to India's pre-2020 voluntary pledges, the government also noted that agriculture was not included in the emission intensity target.
The world's greatest population of cattle is also found in India, providing a significant portion of the people with a means of subsistence. Indian cattle use a lot of agricultural byproducts and nontraditional feed, therefore their contribution to the world pool of enteric methane is extremely little.
As the last justification for not signing the promise, the administration has raised a technicality that India is a signatory to both the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC, but the Methane Pledge is not covered by either of those agreements, according to the report.
Project by ICAR
The "System for Rice Intensification" can increase rice yield from 36- 49% while using around 22-35% less water than traditional transplanted rice. Since it does not require growing nurseries, puddling, or transplanting, another technology called "Direct Seeded Rice" lowers methane emissions.
This approach does not maintain standing water in contrast to transplanted paddy farming. Additionally, by switching from rice to other crops including pulses, oilseeds, maize, cotton, and agroforestry in the Crop Diversification Programme, methane emissions are prevented.
Additionally, the administration has emphasized that India is not indifferent to methane emissions. It made reference to the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) initiative of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), which has created a number of technologies with the potential to reduce methane emissions.
A CSR Initiative of
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