The union cabinet on Wednesday, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the signing of the Global Climate Agreement adopted at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP-21) held in Paris in 2015.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, who will leave for New York on Wednesday evening, will sign the agreement on Friday at the high-level signature ceremony convened by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
“India had advocated a strong and durable climate agreement based on the principles and provisions of the Convention. The Paris Agreement addresses all the important concerns and expectations of India,” a government statement said.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP-21 was held in December 2015 in Paris, where 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal.
The agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 degree Celsius. The agreement is due to come into force in 2020.