Bhupender Yadav claims that India has achieved a balance between development and conservation

According to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday, India has become a global leader in the battle against climate change and achieved a balance between growth and conservation.

He said that India met the goal of having 40% of its installed electrical production capacity come from non-fossil fuels nine years earlier than expected. India has now committed to achieve around 50% of the total installed capacity of electric power from non-fossil fuel-based energy sources by 2030 as part of its revised nationally defined contributions or national plans to combat climate change.

India ranks fourth in the world with an installed renewable energy capacity of 175.74 Giga Watts (including big hydro), or around 42.6% of the nation’s overall capacity (as of March 2023), according to the ministry.

At a news briefing, Yadav outlined the accomplishments of his ministry throughout the course of the Modi administration’s nine years in office. “Its installed renewable energy capacity has increased by 396 percent in the last nine years,” he said.

As of March 2023, India’s installed solar energy capacity has grown 25.6 times during the previous nine years to reach 67 GW. While the mangrove cover increased from 4,663 square kilometres to 4,992 square kilometres, the country’s forest cover increased from 6.98 lakh square kilometres to 7.14 lakh square kilometres.

The minister said that the number of tigers has climbed from 2,226 to 3,167, the number of Asiatic lions has increased from 523 to 674, and the number of leopards has gone from 7,090 to 12,852 as well as the number of one-horned rhinoceroses from 2,600 to 3,000.