Govt plans National Green Financing Institution to achieve climate goals: NITI Aayog

The government is working to set up a National Green Financing Institution to support its net-zero target by 2070, as current finance flows for climate initiatives remain much lower than the desired levels, NITI Aayog has said.

"A dedicated National Green Financing Institution may be envisaged to bridge the huge gap," the Aayog said in its annual report 2024-25.

It added that the primary purpose of the institution will be to aggregate green capital from different sources and lower the cost of capital.

NITI Aayog said it is examining structuring mechanisms for operationalising a potential National Green Financing Institution, including a bank modelled on NaBFID/NABARD, repurposing existing institutions like IREDA; Climate Fund in GIFT city, Green InvIT, etc. (non-exhaustive) along with analysing best practices from Green Banks around the world.

As part of its climate commitments or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2022, India aims to reduce its GDP emission intensity by 45% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. It also aims to achieve 50% of its installed electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.

India has also pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.