Panchamrit

Renewable energy related Issue 

Source: The Economic Times

Context:

The authors talk about the India’s Renewable energy ecosystem.

Editorial Insights:

What’s the matter?

Addressing the COP26 Summit, Indian PM as part of India’s fight against climate change announced 5 point road map to step up India’s climate-action targets.

Infusing new energy in a climate process India announced that India has set a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.

Indian PM has made 5 big-ticket announcements at the climate change meeting in Glasgow & termed it as ‘Panchamrit’.

Panchamrit: India’s 5 announcements at Glasgow:

India accepting the global demands to agree to a net-zero emissions target has set up a 2070 date to achieve it.

At the same time, Indian PM significantly increased India’s previous climate targets pledged under the Paris Agreement.

India has enhanced its installed renewable energy capacity target to 500GW from 450GW by 2030.

Further, India’s emission intensity or emissions per unit GDP will be reduced by at least 45% by 2030 from the 2005 levels, instead of 33 to 35% earlier.

At the same time, the share of non-fossil fuel energy in India’s total energy mix now aimed to reach 50% by 2030 instead of 40% earlier.

Significance of the Targets:

India is the largest emitter & the only G20 nation that has not announced a net-zero target until Glasgow.

With its announcement of net-zero targets by 2070, India has pacified the domestic & international mounting pressure.

According to the WRI data, India is the third-largest emitter of GHGs releasing over 3 billion tonnes every year.

As the current emission rate of India is rising at 4 to 5% every year, it is projected that emissions between now & 2030 would be around 40 billion tonnes.

Therefore, against this drop, the 1 billion tonne reduction has been announced.

India for the first time has taken any climate target in absolute emissions terms.

In the past, India has used the closest reference to alter its emissions trajectory.

However, the Indian PM has not made any mention of the forestry target.

Because this is where India is struggling to achieve.

India’s new targets are expected to provide a fresh trust to the climate talks that have been extremely slow progress due to lack of more ambitious action mainly from the developed world.

The most anticipated promise was setting a Net Zero target that the world has been demanding of India for a long.

India’s Net Zero target of 2070 silences its critics.

The big thing here is not about the target itself but the fact that India finally relented & decided to take up a target that is holding back for a long time.

Put together, this comprehensive package is much more than the world was expecting of India & marks a significant commitment to climate action.

Reducing 1 billion tonnes of emissions by 2030 & expanding non-fossil capacity to 500GW are enormous & transformative steps.

50% electricity generation from renewable energy sources speaks of India’s leadership & commitment to climate action.

India since Paris Climate Meet:

At the COP 21-Paris, India the 3rd largest emitter of carbon dioxide made similar ambitious announcements & aimed to reduce the economy-wide emissions by 33-35% from 2005 levels by 2030.

It also set a target of 40% installed capacity from renewable energy resources & committed to creating a carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest & tree cover.

Since then, India has invested massively in the solar energy.

Recently the govt has announced that India has installed 100GW of renewable energy.

Where 78% is due to large-scale wind & solar power projects.

At the same time India is on track to accomplishing only about 2/3rd of its planned target of 175 GW installation by 2022.

Indian Energy Ecosystem & New Goals:

To achieve new goals India will need to do more in different directions.

India needs to speedup its actions to achieve 40GW of green energy from the rooftop solar sector by 2022.

In the transport sector, India has targeted a 30% EV share in new sales for 2030.

However, as per Climate Action Tracker, to be compatible with the Paris Agreement the share of EV sales needs to be 80-95% by 2030 & 100% by 2040.

India also needs to cut down subsidies to the fossil fuel industry drastically

Because govt for the past few years has been investing huge in fossil fuels compared to renewable energy.

Coal production is estimated to increase 1 billion tonnes by 2024.

According to the Central Electricity Authority, coal capacity is projected to increase from 202GW in 2021 to 266GW by 2029-30.

At the same time govt is not only actively discouraging such investments.

On the contrary, coal subsidies are still 35% higher the subsidies for renewables & coal-fired power generation receives indirect financial support from the govt.

India’s reliance on coal is the main reason for the country not embarking on a serious decarbonization trajectory.

As per Climate Action Tracker, India’s performance as highly insufficient because coal represents about 70% of the country’s energy supply.

As per a study, in 2040 coal will represent 48% of the primary energy consumption of commercial fuels in India while renewable energy will contribute only 16%.

Even with same economic growth rate, the country’s carbon dioxide emissions will double to 5 Gt by 2040.

India’s share of global emissions will increase to 14% by 2040.

India played a very constructive role during COP 21 Paris.

At the same time India along with France initiated a Solar Alliance that was intended to help poor countries to invest in this renewable energy.

Since then India acquired a green image & seen as capable of setting the agenda on climate-related issues.

Concluding Remarks:

India’s green façade now seems to be cracking. Though India has invested in renewable energy & announced a net-zero target, there is a gap between the announcements & ground reality. It is high time for India to work seriously & efficiently on renewable energy transition because economic growth will not be sustainable & human security will be at stake if dozens of millions of climate refugees are created due to the devasting consequences of climate change.