No room for complacency
Renewable energy sector requires definitive action on existing policy gaps to boost investor sentiment
While it is heartening that India is on track to achieve the carbon emission reduction targets set in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, there should be no room for complacency because the battle to arrest the environmental degradation is a work in progress. The country has done well to reduce its emission intensity by 21% over 2005 levels and the solar capacity has grown from 2.63 gigawatts in 2014 to 36 gigawatts in 2020, a huge jump indeed. While the renewable energy capacity target of 450 gigawatts by 2030 looks quite ambitious, it must be pointed out that India is still largely dependent on coal, the worst polluting fossil fuel, to meet the growing energy needs. About 77% of all the coal used in the world is consumed in Asia, with China accounting for 52% and India 25%. Coal has remained the biggest culprit since the industrial revolution as its use is responsible for 39% of all carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere every year. While India has managed a spot among the top 10 countries for the second year in a row in Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2021, its underperformance in the renewable energy sector is pulling it down. The economic recession is bound to impact India’s ability to achieve the 175GW renewable energy generation capacity target by 2022. The sector requires immediate and definitive action on existing policy gaps to boost investor sentiment. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, the world must completely phase out usage of coal to meet its energy needs and shift towards renewables.
The NDA government plans to increase the share of natural gas by four times and double the oil refining capacity. Both are fossil fuels and increasing their usage will not help India achieve its goal of becoming a carbon-neutral country by 2050 –- the ultimate objective of the Paris Agreement. India is home to 14 of the 15 most polluted cities in the world. The PM 2.5 (Particulate Matter of 2.5 microns in width) level in most towns and cities is several times higher than the WHO-suggested levels. Since India’s growth story is inseparable from rising pollution, there is a need for a robust pan-India regulatory framework to improve air quality management. India’s disease burden of polluted air is on the rise. The population-weighted annual average PM2.5 concentration in India was 76 microgram per cubic metre of air while the safe limit suggested by the WHO is 10 microgram/m3. India produces about 65 million tonnes of solid waste annually. Most of the waste ends up at landfills and much of it is burnt, which results in methane and carbon dioxide emissions of about 12.69 million tonnes.
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