India has ranked joint-bottom with Japan and New Zealand in the 2026 Healthy NDC Scorecard, published by the Global Climate and Health Alliance, which assessed 132 countries on the integration of health into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. India scored just 2 out of 32, receiving zero on six of eight indicators, including air pollution, health impacts, health co-benefits, just transition, economics and finance, and monitoring and evaluation. The report highlights that India’s latest NDC, submitted in April 2026, does not explicitly address air pollution despite the country’s substantial pollution-related mortality burden. It also identifies missed opportunities to integrate clean-air measures, energy transition policies and reductions in short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon. Colombia topped the scorecard with 29 points, followed by Nigeria with 25 and Cambodia with 24. Experts have called for India’s next NDC to include measurable health indicators, stronger protections for vulnerable populations, resilient health infrastructure and coordinated climate and air-quality policies. The findings underline the need to treat public health as a core component of climate action, with integrated interventions potentially delivering simultaneous benefits for emissions reduction, air quality and healthcare costs.
Source: Down to Earth