India has put forward “visionary” plans for a three-fold rise in nuclear installed capacity by 2032 and the exploration of small modular reactors (SMRs) as it targets net zero emissions by 2070.

In a long-term, low-carbon development strategy (LT-LED) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), India’s ministry of environment, forest and climate change says it will explore a “significantly greater role” for nuclear energy.

Environment minister Bhupendra Yadav said these steps were consonant with India’s “five-decade journey” to net zero, or being carbon neutral by 2070 – a commitment made by prime minister Narendra Modi in Glasgow, where Cop26 was held last year.

All parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change are required to submit LT-LEDS. To date, only 57 of the 194 parties to the agreement have done so.