Ukraine war has hit India’s bid to move away from coal: FM

Ukraine war has hit India’s bid to move away from coal: FM

Subject: Environment

Context- According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s transition away from coal as a fuel will be hampered by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Concept-

Panchamrit: India’s 5 Commitments On Climate Action

• At the CoP 26, India presented five nectar elements, Panchamrit, to deal with the issue of climate change. These are:
  • India also raised India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of achieving 450 giga watt non-fossil energy capacity to 500 giga watt by 2030.
  • India will meet 50% of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.
  • India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now onwards till 2030.
  • By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45%.
    • Under Paris Agreement, India promised to reduce its emissions intensity (emissions per unit of GDP), by 33 to 35% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.
  • By the year 2070, India will achieve the target of Net Zero.

India’s effort on the issue of climate mitigation:

• India has reduced emissions intensity of GDP by 21% and is on track to achieve the goal of 35% emissions reduction as promised in Paris agreement.
• India, along with UK, launched ‘Infrastructure for Resilient Island States’ (IRIS) on the side-lines of the COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow.
  • IRIS is a part of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
• India has leapfrogged from BS IV to BS VI for vehicle emission norms.
• India has promised creation of additional carbon sinks of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of carbon equivalent through increasing green cover. In last 5 years, India’s green cover has increased by 15,000 sq. km.
• India has taken up a target for restoration of 26 million of degraded land by 2030 during the 14th COP of UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Delhi
• India launched National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in 2008 outlining eight National Missions on climate change. These include:
  • National Solar Mission
  • National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
  • National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
  • National Water Mission
  • National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system
  • National Mission for a Green India
  • National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
  • National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change
• Indian Railways, the world’s largest passenger carrier serving an average of 8 billion passengers every year, has set a ‘Net Zero by 2030’
  • With this decision, the Indian Railways will mitigate 60 million tonnes of carbon emission per year.
• India is working on the target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025.
• Today India is one of the top five countries in the world in terms of renewable energy capacity.

Challenges Ahead to Meet COP 26 Goals

• Paris agreement targets still unachieved
  • Although 151 states have indicated that they will submit stronger targets before December 31, only 13 of them, covering 2.4% of global emissions, have submitted such targets.
  • For many there is a mismatch between short-term actions and long-term commitments.
• States are not obliged to achieve their self-selected targets and there is no mechanism to review the adequacy of individual contributions.
• No rules have yet been set for carbon credits & developing countries has several millions of them unsold
• Climate finance
• A NITI Aayog report estimates that the sector requires $4.5 trillion to meet the infrastructure gap and increase the share of renewable energy to 50% by 2030.

Way Forward:

• Achieving these targets will require focus on three important areas:
  • Increasing renewable energy capacity,
  • decarbonising emission intensive sectors and
  • creating more carbon sinks.
• Policies and investments shift from the grey to green economy: It would require India to give up fossil fuel and making societies and people more resilient to climate shocks.