Road to net-zero status

Subject: Environment

India’s strategy for achieving Net-Zero status-

A year after announcing its intention to achieve a net-zero emission status by 2070, India on Monday told the world how it was going to reach there.
In a 121-page document, India listed some of the measures — decarbonising of electricity and transport sectors, redesigning of urban spaces, increase in energy and material efficiency, revitalisation of forests, and a push for climate-oriented research and development — it planned to take in the coming decades to achieve the net-zero status.
The context Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries have to prepare and submit two kinds of climate action plans— one for the short term, and another for the long- term.

Short-term climate- action plans (NDCs)-

Also called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
Have to be submitted every five years, with specific actions being taken over 5- or 10-year periods.
The NDCs are meant to be acheived till 2030.
For developed countries, NDCs must include specific emission reduction targets for the year 2030.
Every subsequent NDC— the next one is due in 2025 — must be a progression from the existing NDC.
In its NDC, India has promised three main targets for 2030-

a 45 per cent reduction in emission intensity (emission per unit of GDP) from 2005 levels,
a 50 percent share of renewables in electricity generation,
creation of5 to 3 billion tonnes of additional carbon sink through forests.

Long Term Low Emissions Development Strategies (LT-LEDS)-

There is no particular time frame for which these long-term strategies have to be prepared.
At COP26 held in Glasgow, countries announced target years for achieving net-zero status.
Most of the developed countries set the target year for Net-Zero status2050.China has set 2060 as its target year, while India set it as 2070.
India’s strategy To reach the net-zero destination-
- India is planning large-scale interventions in five sectors— energy and electricity, transport, urban design, industries, and forestry.
The long-term strategy document lists key focus areas and specific interventions that India is already taking or has planned to initiate, in each of these priority sectors.
- In the energy sector, for example, decarbonisation would come mainly through expanding the share of renewable energy, rationalising the utilisation of fossil fuels, and focusing on demand-side management.
- Low carbon development in the transport sector would be driven mainly by the electrification of both public and private vehicles,phased transition to cleaner fuels, and introduction of intelligent traffic systems.
There are no mid-term goals or indicative pathways.
Most of the 60-odd countries that have submitted their long-term strategies have not offered mid-term targets or pathways, but some, including the UK and the US, have provided a few sectoral projections with expected milestones they hope to reach.

Agriculture missing-

One of the sectors India has not mentioned in its long-term strategy is agriculture, which is mainly responsible for methane emissions.
Methane is the second most common greenhouse gas in the atmosphere after carbon dioxide.
That is because methane is far more dangerous than carbon dioxide in its potential to cause global warming.
That also means that from molecule to molecule, the reduction of methane offers far greater benefits than carbon dioxide.
Unlike carbon dioxide, methane is largely a sectoral gas, so its reduction does not have economy-wide repercussions the way carbon dioxide has.

Carbon removal technologies-

The net-zero status can be achieved only when the emissions are offset either by the absorption of greenhouse gases by forests or the physical removal of these gases through futuristic technologies.
Emissions can be reduced significantly but not brought down to zero.
The balance would have to be offset through various kinds of carbon capture, and storage technologies (CCS).
India will be heavily reliant on CCS and negative emissions technologies to achieve this goal, and in particular, to offset emissions from challenging and hard-to-abate sectors.
R&D Accordingly, India has identified several climate- specific technologies in CCS, biofuels, smart grids, solar photovoltaics, energy storage, and others.