The agreement binds India to reduce the use of HFC gasses by 10 per cent by 2032.
India on Saturday was among the 197 nations to sign a binding agreement in Rwanda's capital Kigali to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbon or (HFC) gases, primarily found in air conditioners. The deal comes two weeks after India ratified the Paris agreement on climate change.
In the landmark step, the nations have struck a legally-binding deal after intense negotiations to phase down hydrofluorocarbons.
Unlike other heat trapping gases like carbon dioxide, HFC gases are considered to be more potent in their ability to trap heat and cause global climate change.
While India had all along said that it wanted to be a part of a global effort to combat climate change, it had also maintained that a switch over to alternate gases would be expensive.
Terming the deal as historic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the countries for coming together for contributing to a greener Earth and said it would provide a mechanism for countries like India to access and develop technologies that leave a low carbon footprint.
Indian officials led by Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave had conducted two rounds of meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Kigali before signing of the agreement.
The agreement binds India to reduce the use of HFC gasses by 10 per cent by 2032, while developed countries have to start making reductions by 2019. In exchange to this, India has agreed to a 'freeze year' of 2028 by when its HFC use cannot grow any further.
It has however said that it will review the technology available in 2022 to determine if it can meet the 2028 deadline for a freeze year or push it by 2030.
"Agreement will lead to a reduction of 0.5 degree in global temp by the end of the century & enable us to achieve the goals set in Paris," PM Modi said.
Scientists have warned that unless drastic steps are taken to prevent temperature rise, the world will witness more intense weather phenomenon like hurricanes, rainfall and expected to have far reaching and irreversible changes across the planet.