The Indian government has committed by 2030 to cut the emissions intensity of the country’s GDP by 45% .

India on Wednesday sold its first sovereign “green bonds”, in a well-received $1bn issue that analysts said boded well for its ability to bankroll the big investments needed to achieve its climate targets. The government sold Rs80bn ($1bn) worth of five- and 10-year debt, achieving a “greenium”, or a lower borrowing cost than it would for a conventional bond of similar maturity. The 10-year bond was priced at a coupon of 7.29 per cent, which was 0.06 percentage points lower than for comparable sovereign debt. India, with a population of 1.4bn, is on track to overtake China as the world’s most populous country this year, and is the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. It has also said it faces a bigger challenge than most other countries in coping with rising temperatures and changed weather patterns, as a tropical country with a long coastline and the Himalayas in the north. Click here to read full article