Countries need to raise ambition towards net zero emissions

 Countries need to raise ambition towards net zero emissions,
President Biden’s Envoy, John Kerry says

 

• India is on the path of growth, and this growth needs to be as green as possible
• Aside from rapid adoption of technologies to combat climate change, green growth also calls for certain alternate measures like resource efficiency and effective waste management

As countries prepare to negotiate the acceleration of climate action at 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, it needs to raise ambition towards achieving net zero emissions, said Mr John Forbes Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate at the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2021. Mr Kerry participated in a High-Level Roundtable on ‘Rebooting Green Growth’ along with Dr S Jaishankar, Hon’ble Minister of External Affairs, Government of India, Mr Mohammed Nasheed, Speaker of the People’s Majlis, Republic of Maldives, The Rt Hon Lord Zac Goldsmith, Minister for Pacific and the Environment at the FCDO, UK, Ms Amina Mohammad, Deputy Secretary General, United Nations, and Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI

 

The roundtable aimed to steer discussions towards strengthening commitment to maximizing renewable energy, enhancing capacity to deal with the changing climate, and creating financial flows to help enable these actions. 

 Dr S Jaishankar, Hon’ble Minister of External Affairs, Government of India said, “Climate change is a great challenge and India has managed through it quite efficiently. India understands the need for global awareness for behavioural change, including judicious use of resources. Among G20 nations, India has managed the fastest growing energy expansion in the world. It stands committed to meeting both the developmental requirements of its citizens and ensuring to meet the stated commitments to climate action, it is upon the upcoming generations to lead the way in this aspect.”

Speaking about the upcoming COP26 in Glasgow, Mr Kerry said, “We have to come to Glasgow with no excuses. We don’t have time to point fingers. We have to break barriers between us. This is our last best chance to get to net zero.”

“India today is the third largest emitter in the world behind the United States and China. However, India’s down-payment on the Clean Energy transmission has made the country the global market leader in the sector, thanks to which building solar energy in India is cheaper than anywhere else in the world. We must understand that the whole world is in this together and that domestic action of any one country is not enough – We must always consider pushing for climate change together. India has committed to a new Hydrogen mission which makes it one of the incumbent leaders to lead a Hydrogen based economy. Net-zero emission commitment from several countries is a critical move giving us an opportunity to stimulate economic as well as environmental goals. Failure is not an option.”, Mr Kerry added.

 

Emphasising on the need to take the right decisions to repair the damage from the past in the long run, The Rt Hon Lord Zac Goldsmith, Minister for Pacific and the Environment at the FCDO, UK, said, “There is a need to break the link between economic growth and environmental devastation. We know the right thing to be done will create not only a sustainable environment but also create job opportunities aligning recovery packages with the Paris agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. Green recovery can help create more jobs, short term returns and reduce costs. Solar and Wind are already cheaper than coal – which is one of the most unanticipated changes from the past.”

 

Mr Mohammed Nasheed, Speaker of the People’s Majlis, Republic of Maldives, said, “We are developing prosperity plan in the climate vulnerable forum countries to ensure that the by-product of development is zero carbon. The idea is to bring economists to formulate a development strategy to bring the same economic outcomes – Low Carbon, Less Extraction and More Recycle – These would invoke infrastructure building for adaptation.”

 

Ms Amina Mohammad, Deputy Secretary General, United Nations, said, “2020 was a significant year for climate action. As we commit to zero emission goals until mid-century, we look forward to a lot more positive change in the months and years to come environmentally. In the last eight years, India has seen a fivefold increase in the renewable energy sector. The ISA, in India remarkably continues to deliver on its One Sun One World One Grid commitment efficiently, thereby safeguarding biodiversity and pioneering resilience in the infrastructure sector. India has through its efforts created a major economic opportunity for a resilient nation.”

 

Organized annually since 2001, the WSDS platform has facilitated the exchange of knowledge on all aspects of sustainable development. Over the past twenty years, it has emerged as one of the foremost fora on issues of global sustainability. This flagship event brings together regional and international thought leaders including various heads of state and government, policymakers, and leaders from several industries and academia to deliberate on myriad issues of topical environmental importance.

 

The detailed agenda of the programme can be accessed here-

https://wsds.teriin.org/assets/pdf/WSDS2021_AgenaFramework-as-on-3-feb.pdf

 

To register for the event, please click:

https://register.teriin.org/registration/sgregistration/participants_register.php?type=guest&eid=183

TERI proposes a fiscally responsible Green

TERI proposes a fiscally responsible Green Stimulus to revive growth and jobs

The paper suggests six focus areas that can accelerate growth of renewable energy and improve air quality in India.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) released a discussion paper on ‘A Fiscally Responsible Green Stimulus’ to revive Indian economy by creating demand and jobs with policy and regulatory interventions using minimal government spending.

Speaking at the launch of discussion paper, Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI, said, “The focus of India’s stimulus packages has been on enhancing credit availability in the agricultural and small and medium enterprises (SME) sectors so as to stimulate economic growth and create sustainable jobs.  We suggest that policy and regulatory measures are used to create demand which can pull private investment into green options – this will make the green economy commercially viable, and accelerate economic growth, job creation and the environmental transition.”

Commenting on the paper, Shri Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), said, “The paper adopts a holistic approach on issues related to clean energy and environment. It focuses on interventions in areas that are rather neglected such as generating waste to energy or animal waste to energy or agriculture waste to energy. Some of the recommendations are already being acted upon by MNRE such as the PM KUSUM Scheme. We hope to have a framework where domestic solar manufacturing gets impetus. We also have plans for generating energy from surplus biomass.”

On renewable energy performance, the secretary added, “India’s installed renewable energy capacity has grown by 2.5 times in the last 6 years. However, our share in RE electricity generation remains at 12% or 1/10th of overall production. Rapid technological changes in coming years will help us to reduce renewable energy costs and costs associated with integrating RE into grid.”

Mr Ajay Shankar, Distinguished Fellow, TERI and the author of the discussion paper said, “Recognizing the fiscal constraints at this juncture and the need for a demand stimulus in the economy, the discussion paper puts together specific proposals that rely on primarily policy and regulatory instruments. These measures would accelerate the use of renewable energy and improve air quality. The investment potential has turned out to be huge.”

The Green Stimulus proposed by TERI is approximately INR 40,00,000 crores (or 540 billion USD), spread over this decade. The specific proposals suggested for this stimulus are as follows:

• Incentivising Cleaner Transport (investment potential of INR 160,000 crores per annum)

Subsidise fleet modernization of existing vehicles to BS-VI, use of electric vehicles and provision of buses for public transport.

• Producing Renewable Energy from Agricultural Residues (investment potential of INR 22,470 crores per annum)

Announce a commercially viable procurement price for the next five years for briquettes made from crop waste.

• Creating Renewable Energy from Animal Husbandry Waste (investment potential of INR 88,000 crores per annum)

Introduce a commercially viable feed-in tariff for purchase of electricity generated from animal husbandry waste (excreta from cattle, poultry, pigs, etc.) by Distribution Companies.

• Promoting Solar Generation in Rural India (investment potential of INR 27,00,000 crores)

Announce a commercially viable feed-in tariff for purchase of electricity generated from rural areas in the kilowatt range by Distribution Companies.

• Supporting MSMEs to Become More Green and Competitive (savings potential INR 15,000 crores every year)

The stimulus package envisaged by the government can be used to finance investments in the MSME sector for enhancing competitiveness through energy efficiency. This would involve replacement of energy inefficient boilers, pumps, motors etc.

• Creating Domestic Manufacturing Capacity for Solar Power and Energy Storage (investment potential of INR 2,94,000 crores by 2030)

Invite bids for solar power with-storage with the condition that manufacturing with full value addition would be done in India.

Dr Rajat Kathuria, Director and Chief Executive, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), said, “India faces a huge social and humanitarian crisis in terms of jobs and productivity. We should not waste this opportunity to put in place sustainable and green reforms. We need to create social security for the large informal sector. India needs to use the market mechanism and price signals much more, through measures such as carbon pricing and feed in tariffs. The private sector should be brought in wherever they can deliver.''

Endorsing the recommendations of the paper, Mr Simon J. Stolp, Country Lead (India), Energy and Extractives at the World Bank Group, said, “This green stimulus is pragmatic. It has a demand-driven approach. Governments across the world are not in a strong fiscal position, so there is a need to bring in private sector to reduce the burden on public resources. This discussion paper taps the potential of short-term job growth, balancing it well with the long-term goals of climate change and the decarbonisation agenda.''