• Dr.Udayakumara M

Abstract India faces the dual challenge of sustaining rapid economic development while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and environmental pollution. Climate policy can contribute to both objectives because interventions directed at decarbonising electricity, improving energy efficiency, promoting renewable energy, electrifying transport, improving waste management and protecting forests can simultaneously reduce carbon dioxide emissions and conventional pollutants. This study examines the effectiveness of India's climate-policy framework in reducing environmental pollution, with particular emphasis on air pollution and the policy interactions between climate mitigation and pollution control. The study adopts a qualitative policy-analysis approach based on a systematic review of peer-reviewed research, official policy documents, India's nationally determined contributions, and evidence on the implementation of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). The analysis indicates that India's climate policies have generated important environmental co-benefits, particularly through renewable-energy expansion, energy-efficiency interventions, clean cooking, and electric mobility and pollution-control measures. However, the evidence also demonstrates that climate policy alone has not produced sufficiently rapid or geographically consistent reductions in ambient pollution. Recent assessments of NCAP show substantial variation among cities, while meteorological variability and inadequate regional coordination complicate attribution of observed pollution changes to policy interventions. The study argues that India's climate and environmental policies should be integrated through airshed-level planning, stronger enforcement, sector-specific emission standards, transparent monitoring and greater coordination between national, state and local institutions. India's 2031–2035 NDC, which raises the ambition for emissions-intensity reduction, non-fossil electricity capacity and carbon sinks, provides an opportunity to strengthen these linkages. The paper concludes that climate policy can significantly contribute to pollution reduction, but its effectiveness depends on implementation quality, policy coherence, monitoring capacity and the integration of climate mitigation with local air-quality management.

Keywords: climate policy; environmental pollution; air pollution; India; National Clean Air Programme; renewable energy; climate mitigation; policy effectiveness; sustainable development; emissions.

"Impact of Climate Policy on Reducing Environmental Pollution in India: Policy Effectiveness, Co-Benefits and Implementation Challenges", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 9, page no.b301-b308, September-2026, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2609135.pdf

"Impact of Climate Policy on Reducing Environmental Pollution in India: Policy Effectiveness, Co-Benefits and Implementation Challenges", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 9, page no. ppb301-b308, September-2026, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2609135.pdf