Centre constitutes Apex Committee for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (AIPA) headed by Environment Secretary

The Central Government has set up an Apex Committee for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement (AIPA) for achieving its goals under the global deal.
The 17-member Committee comprise of members from 13 key ministries of the Union Government.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) secretary R P Gupta will be the head of this committee and the additional secretary, MoEFCC, Ravi Shankar Prasad will be the vice chairperson.
The Environment ministry has enlisted as many as 16 functions for the APIA.

Some key features of AIPA

The body will have power to issue directions under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to industries or any entities for compliance on cleaner practices in sync with India’s goals.
It will be the national authority to regulate carbon markets in India under the Paris Agreement in post-2020 period.
AIPA will issue guidelines for carbon pricing and market mechanism to offset carbon footprints of emitters.
Define responsibilities of concerned ministries for fulfilling India’s ‘nationally determined contribution’ (NDC) pledges and receive periodic information updates to monitor, review and revisit climate goals to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement.
The Committee will also develop programme and policies, if required, to make India’s domestic climate actions compliant with its international obligations.