An Indian lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party has submitted a private member’s bill to parliament for India to commit to net zero emissions by 2050.

Jayant Sinha, a lawmaker representing the coal producing Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand, north east India, submitted the bill to the Lok Sabha, parliament’s lower house earlier this week. The bill, obtained by Climate Home News, aims to provide a framework “by which India can develop and implement clear and stable climate change policies” under the Paris Agreement.

Modelled on New Zealand’s climate law, it would require the government to establish emissions budgets every five years, starting in 2022.  An independent climate change commission would be created to drive policy recommendations and monitor progress towards achieving the net zero target.

In practice, it is “very rare” for a private member’s bill to become law in India as the government is unlikely to support legislation that it hasn’t proposed, he said. But Sinha, who chairs the parliament’s standing committee on finance, hopes the bill will drive the issue to the top of India’s political agenda.

In recent months, prime minister Narendra Modi has come under growing diplomatic pressure to set a net zero goal after some of the world’s biggest polluters announced carbon neutrality commitments, including China. Government officials close to Modi are reportedly working with senior bureaucrats and foreign advisors to consider setting a net zero goal for 2050 or 2047, the centenary of the country’s independence from the UK.

Guest post from Climate Home News