West Bengal’s new Bharatiya Janata Party government has said nearly 69 per cent of its 2026-27 budget allocation is linked to the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in what officials describe as the state’s first SDG-aligned budget exercise.

A state budget document, accessed by this correspondent, says Rs 3.01 lakh crore of the total Rs 4.38 lakh crore budget has been mapped against the 17 SDGs. The exercise was carried out with support from the UN Development Programme. Several states — Assam, Orissa, Karnataka, Haryana — have attempted it before.

The budget, presented by state Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta, also places emphasis on climate resilience, the Sundarbans and solar energy. Environmentalists welcomed several proposals but said key issues, including air pollution, river protection, waste management and the low allocation for the environment department, remained concerns.

Chief Minister Subhendu Adhikary said the budget had addressed the needs of different sections. “If there is anything we need to do more, we will do those in the coming budgets,” he said.

“As we present this budget, we renew our solemn commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and to the people of West Bengal,” Dasgupta said in his budget speech.

The SDGs, adopted by all UN member states in 2015, set out 17 goals and 169 targets on poverty, inequality, education, health, climate action, biodiversity and other development priorities.

SDGs and spending priorities

An analysis of Budget Publication No. 31, Statement Showing Allocation for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2026-27, shows that West Bengal has allocated nearly Rs 3.01 lakh crore — about 69 per cent of its total budget of Rs 4.38 lakh crore — towards achieving the 17 SDGs.

The document describes the exercise as the state's first attempt to align fiscal commitments with the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, embedding SDGs into budgeting and governance. It also underscores environmental sustainability as central to West Bengal's development vision, highlighting priorities such as conservation of the Sundarbans, biodiversity protection, ecosystem restoration, climate resilience, sustainable water management and green development.

The highest allocation — about Rs 53,000 crore — has been linked to SDG 10, which focuses on reducing inequalities. This is followed by allocations for SDG 1 on poverty, SDG 8 on economic growth and SDG 4 on education, with about Rs 31,408 crore, Rs 28,549 crore and Rs 28,350 crore respectively.

The document says West Bengal is seeking to integrate the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into its fiscal policy and governance.

“Environmental sustainability remains fundamental to the state’s developmental vision,” the statement says, listing conservation of the Sundarbans, biodiversity protection, ecosystem restoration, climate resilience, sustainable water management and green development practices as priorities.

A senior official in the finance department said work on an SDG-compliant budget had begun during the previous government but was completed with the support of the new finance minister.

Shift in Sundarbans approach

The budget also signals a shift in the state’s approach to the Sundarbans, with greater emphasis on waterways rather than bridge-led connectivity. Several environmentalists had criticised the previous government’s bridge-centric development model for the fragile island landscape.

“The Sundarbans is an ecologically fragile area, very critical from the point of view of climate change and biodiversity,” Dasgupta said. He noted that 54 of the region’s 104 islands are inhabited and home to many marginalised communities.

The finance minister proposed Rs 100 crore for pontoon-based jetties and related infrastructure to improve connectivity. He said solar-operated boats with low carbon footprints would also be promoted for carrying goods and passengers.

However, the budget also cleared funds for initial work on the planned Gangasagar bridge, a project conceived during the Mamata Banerjee government. The bridge has religious and political significance because of the annual Gangasagar pilgrimage.

Dasgupta said the Upper and Lower Sundarbans Delta projects would be implemented with funding support from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank respectively. The projects, estimated at Rs 1,353 crore and Rs 4,100 crore, were conceived under the previous All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) government and had been awaiting central clearances.

The upper delta project is intended to help manage silt flows and support the delta’s survival, while the lower delta project is aimed at protecting more than five million people and the region’s mangrove ecosystem from increasingly severe climate-linked events.

The budget also proposes reconstruction of about 60 kilometres of embankments in the Sundarbans using nature-based technologies.

Climate finance and carbon credits

The state has also announced plans to create a West Bengal Climate Resilient Fund and a West Bengal Climate Finance Facility.

Dasgupta said these would help mobilise climate finance, support climate projects, create possible revenue streams through carbon credits and help finance the State Action Plan on Climate Change. He proposed an allocation of Rs 200 crore for this in 2026-27.

Economist Dipak Dasgupta, who has been associated with a climate finance hub project in West Bengal under NABARD, called it “a very good budget from the environment and climate change point of view”.

Nilanjan Ghosh, economist and head of the Observer Research Foundation, said the budget had “ticked” many important boxes. “It is not only good to see the investment being made in climate adaptation, but also the proposal that carbon credit will be utilised to raise revenue,” he said.

Solar push, but thermal stays

The budget proposes both new thermal power capacity and a push for solar energy.

Dasgupta said West Bengal’s peak power demand is currently 13 GW and is expected to rise to 16 gigawatts (GW) in two years and 27 GW by 2035. To meet this demand, he said the government would plan new thermal power plants through both the state and private sector.

At the same time, the state plans a mega floating solar photovoltaic project with battery energy storage at Bakreshwar Dam, at an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore. The government also aims to implement the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana with a target of 200,000 rooftop solar installations.

Environmentalists said the solar push was welcome but warned that expanding thermal power could complicate the state’s climate goals.

Gaps remain, experts say

Biswajit Mukherjee, an environmentalist and former chief law officer of West Bengal, said it was encouraging that some recommendations submitted to the government on World Environment Day had found mention in the budget.

But he said the environment department’s allocation remained around Rs 100 crore, with little improvement over previous years.

Mukherjee said the budget had made no or limited mention of waste management, illegal firework factories, revival of the jute industry, river embankment repair and training environmental professionals to deal with emerging risks.

Another environmental expert said air pollution, river pollution, encroachment of water bodies and illegal sand mining had not received adequate attention.

“The key is to enforce the environment norms properly, with the state pollution control board playing a stellar role. That has got largely compromised in the last few years,” Mukherjee said.

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