A Climate Power

Synopsis: There are multiple challenges in achieving a global consensus on climate goals. What are the solutions for India.

Introduction

Achieving climate goals require clean technology. However, India, a major economy that hopes to grow fast cannot simply just wait for tech transfers from the West.

What are the challenges in achieving climate goals?

World:

Consensus building– Nations don’t agree even on the most important baselines like net-zero emissions or the when and how much of green financing is to be done. For example, the UK’s proposal on phasing out coal in a short time looks to be un-doable for large coal-dependent economies like China and India.

Clean technology– The low income group countries are unable to invest in clean technology research. This is worsened by the apathy of higher income groups towards transfer of technology.

India:

– Economy vs Ecology-For example, India has large number of people dependent on the coal economy for jobs and 70% dependence for energy needs.

– Political economy- Industries like thermal power, cement, iron and steel are major economic players in some states. The long transition from a coal economy can witness stiff regional political pushbacks.

– Standard of living– With higher incomes, people will buy more air-conditioners and cars in India. All this is potentially climate negative.

What steps should be taken by India?

Green hydrogen- A clean fuel that’s well within India’s technological capacity to produce in very large quantities, must be executed fast.

Separate fund and fiscal incentives- GoI should create a separate fund for incubating clean tech, and incentivise private players further via huge tax breaks.

The fund should be managed by professionals from industry and academia, free of bureaucratic interference.

Source: This post is based on the article “A Climate Power” published in “Times of India” on 31st October 2021.