India’s Glasgow announcement

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

India will achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, Prime Minister said in CoP Glasgow. He was speaking at the ‘High-Level Segment for Heads of State and Government’ during the UNFCCC’s 26th Conference of Parties (COP).

• India also raised the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of achieving 450-gigawatt non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatt, among other commitments including reducing carbon emissions.
• International commentators expressed disappointment that India was promising nets zero-emissions only by 2070 instead of 2050. 

Key takeaways from COP26

• PM announced India’s four other commitments — all by 2030. He called them the “gift of five elixirs” (panchamrit).
  • These are: 
    • reducing Emissions Intensity (EI), or emissions per unit of GDP, by 45% in 2030 relative to 2005 levels; 
    • cutting absolute emissions by one billion tonnes, presumably from projected business-as-usual (BAU) 2030 levels; 
    • 500 GW (1 Gigawatt = 1,000 Megawatts) of non-fossil fuel installed power generation capacity by 2030; 
    • 50% electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030; and 
    • net-zero emissions by 2070.
  • The PM also outlined the Indian Railways’ commitment of net-zero by 2030 and its ambition of installing 450 GW of renewable energy capacity.
• Climate finance: To achieve its climate goals, PM said India expected developed countries “to make $1 trillion available as climate finance as soon as possible”. 
  • Today, as we track the progress on climate mitigation, the same way we must track climate finance.
  • Significance: The commitment is significant since India is the third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, after China and the US.
  • The most substantive new commitment relates to the 1-billion-tonne reduction in its total projected emissions from now until 2030. This is the first time that India has taken any climate target in terms of its absolute emissions.
  • Now India demands the US $1 trillion in climate finance as soon as possible and will monitor not just climate action but also climate finance.
• One Sun One World One Grid group.
• India and the United Kingdom announced an initiative to tap solar energy and have it travel seamlessly across borders.

• India launched another international climate initiative called Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS), aimed at providing technical, knowledge and financial assistance to small island nations with the help of developed countries. 
  • Such an initiative should be undertaken in India too, where coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and urban flooding due to extreme rainfall exacerbated by haphazard urbanisation are acquiring threatening dimensions.
• Forest Declaration: It is an ambitious declaration initiated by the United Kingdom to “halt deforestation” and land degradation by 2030. 

• India did not sign the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. 
• It objected to “trade” being interlinked to climate change and forest issues in the agreement.
• The declaration has over 105 signatories including the UK, US, Russia and China.
• India, Argentina, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and South Africa are the only G20 countries that did not sign the declaration.
• Twenty-eight governments have also committed to removing deforestation from the global trade of food and other agricultural products such as palm oil, soya and cocoa.

Global Methane Pledge: The United States and the European Union have jointly pledged to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas methane by 2030. 

• They plan to cut down emissions by 30% compared with the 2020 levels. 
• At least 90 countries have signed the Global Methane Pledge, with India and China abstaining so far. 
• Methane accounts for about a fifth of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is about 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. 
• India is the third-largest emitter of methane, primarily because of the size of its rural economy and by virtue of having the largest cattle population. 
• India has stated earlier that it plans to deploy technology and capture methane that can be used as a source of energy. 

Reviewing India’s goals:

The new policy paradigm asserted that although India was not a part of the problem, it was now willing and able to contribute to reduction efforts in global emissions. India’s pledge at Glasgow adheres to the Paris Agreement decision to increase emission cuts to tackle the rapidly escalating climate crisis.

• Emissions reduction by one billion tonnes by 2030: India’s current annual emissions are around 2.8 billion tonnes and projected to reach about 4.5 billion tonnes in 2030 on a BAU basis. 
  • The pledged reduction would be a substantial 20%, comparing favourably with several developed country targets. 
• Emission intensity: Both the 33%-35% decline promised in Paris, and the updated 45% reduction by 2030, are quite achievable and par for an emerging economy.
• On installed power generation capacity, India’s extant NDC had incorporated the Government’s declared goal of 175 GW from renewable energy (RE) sources by 2022. 
  • India has reached only around 101 GW of solar and wind due to numerous constraints. 
  • If one adds large hydro and nuclear, both now considered renewable, the current RE installed capacity is about 150 GW or just under 40% of the total. It almost achieves the NDC target for 2030 showing under-projection. 
  • The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in its 2020 Report on Energy Mix for 2029-30 has projected around 525 GW or 64.3% non-fossil fuel installed capacity including 280 GW Solar and 140 GW wind. 
  • Only 267 GW is projected to come from coal and lignite, compared to 203 GW in 2019, so almost all of India’s future growth of capacity is to come from RE. 
  • India’s Glasgow pledge of 50% electricity from RE by 2030 is just a tad more than the CEA projection of 44.7%. 

These commitments may prove difficult as currently witnessed in the coal shortage crisis, combined with the need for storage and grid stability.

Concerns: 

• India insufficiently communicated the significance of its enhanced commitments and little effort was made to leverage India’s updated pledge to extract deeper emission cuts from developed nations.
• India refused to join over 110 countries in a declaration to end deforestation by 2030. India’s pledges also do not mention the NDC target for forests and tree cover. It will impact both the environment and livelihoods of tribals and other forest dwellers.
• India also did not join the Global Methane Pledge by over 100 nations to reduce emissions of the short-lived but potent greenhouse gas by 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels, when methane is among the fastest-growing emissions in India.

Way forward:

• India must address the deep inequity in access to energy and other essentials within India. Climate change is multi-dimensional, not confined to mitigation alone and, as all studies tell us, should be tackled cross-sectorally.
• Lifestyle changes: The Glasgow pledges come from a few sectors mostly related to electricity generation. 
  • However, a truly transformational low-carbon future must embrace many more aspects, as indeed emphasised at Glasgow by the Prime Minister as “Lifestyle for Environment (LIFE)”. 
• Accelerated deployment of electric or fuel-cell vehicles must go alongside a rapid reduction in personal vehicle use and a major push for mass transportation. 
• Increasing employment-intensive recycling of waste goods and materials, including in solid and liquid waste management linked to methane recovery, would deliver substantial co-benefits across sectors.
• Carbon lock-ins and energy use need to be minimised through mandatory “green” construction codes for the huge housing and other buildings stock, highways and infrastructure yet to be built. 
  • Carbon lock-in occurs when fossil fuel-intensive systems perpetuate, delay or prevent the transition to low-carbon alternatives.
• Consensus making: The ongoing updating of the NDC should be done through a cross-partisan multi-stakeholder consultative process that would make it truly “nationally determined” and implemented.

The Hindu Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-lowdown-on-indias-glasgow-announcement/article37445971.ece

Question- Describe the climate commitments made by India at COP26 in Glasgow and the challenges associated with achieving them.