India’s Quest for Clean Energy: Current Challenges and Way Ahead
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The much-awaited COP26 meeting was recently held in Glasgow in November 2021, where more than 100 heads of state and a plethora of experts and leaders from various fields participated in the much-publicised event. It was expected that the World leaders would work closer towards limiting the global rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. One of the most important announcements made at the summit was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that India will achieve net-zero emission status by 2070. In addition to that, he also pledged to generate 500 GW of electricity through renewable resources. These announcements are significant, and it comes at a time when other major world economies like China, Europe and the US have made similar announcements with their timelines. In the Glasgow meeting, there were demands to completely phase out usage of coal in the next few decades, and it was aggressively pursued by the US and EU countries. However, India and China, who still largely depend on coal to fulfil their energy requirements argued that coal alone cannot be singled out in this phase-out plan and if it has to be implemented, then other fossil fuels like petroleum, diesel, and natural gas also had to be included. Due to this resistance from India and China, the wording had to be changed to ‘phase down’ of coal usage in the coming decades.
By sticking to 2070 instead of 2050, the Indian government has ensured a balance between achieving continued economic development and creating a sustainable future. The developed countries should share the greater burden to help developing countries like India to transition to newer technologies that will lower the emission of greenhouse gases. India’s demand of $1 trillion annually as climate finance from developed countries stems from the greater burden that developing countries in the Global South will have to face despite having very low per capita emissions compared to developed countries like the US and Europe.
Emerging Policy Trends
India has already made significant improvements in increasing the share of renewable energy and also reducing emissions. According to the year-end 2020 report of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the total share of renewable energy in electricity production has seen rapid growth. It now constitutes 36 per cent of the overall electricity production. India has financed most of its climate actions through domestic resources, and it will need a lot of external support to fund its commitments. As part of its increasing focus on the renewable energy sector, the government in its 2021 budget announced the proposal to set up a National Hydrogen Mission for generating hydrogen from clean energy sources. The government under production linked initiative has committed Rs. 4500 crore for ‘High-Efficiency Solar PV Modules’ as part of its policy increase the efficiency of solar modules and generate employment for the youths. India benefitted from the advances made in green technology, and now it is focusing on implementing policies that can spur innovation and lower costs. Research done by Wood Mackenzie in 2019 found that the cost of producing electricity through solar power was 14 per cent cheaper than electricity produced with coal. In January 2020, Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd., a company of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy conducted the world’s largest renewables-plus-energy-storage capacity tender under which power generation companies have to provide uninterrupted, unsubsidized power generated from renewable resources. As electricity prices get cheaper with more efficient technology to tap renewable energy, India stands at the cusp of a revolution in the clean energy sector. It can be a role model for other developing countries to help them access renewable sources of energy.
Challenges Ahead
However, there are multiple challenges for a large country like India to completely shift towards renewable energy. India is still heavily dependent on coal to meet its energy needs and it is also crucial for the production of important metals like iron and steel. India has one of the largest coal reserves in the world providing it with a vital source of energy security. At the ongoing Parliament session, the government responded that India would need $1 trillion over the next 10 years to fulfil its commitments made at the Glasgow COP26 summit. Along with implementing these commitments, India also has to work on increasing forest cover as there has been a lot of ambiguity in defining what ‘forest’ is in India. The world will be keen to see India succeed in its ambitious environmental policies as its policies will shape the course for other developing countries to adopt their own policies.
