Explained: PM’s climate promises, and how far India is on track to meet them

What is the News?

At the UN climate conference in Glasgow, the Prime Minister raised India’s existing climate targets and also announced a few new targets. 

What are the targets announced by the PM, and what is its status?

First Target: India will reach its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030.

Is this target achievable? Non-fossil fuels include not just renewables like solar or wind but also nuclear and hydro. According to the 2020 Central Electricity Authority’s report, India’s non-fossil installed capacity in 2019 was 134 GW and is projected to reach 520 GW by 2030.

Second Target: India will meet 50 percent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.

Is this target achievable?  By November 2020, the share of renewables, including large hydropower, in total installed electrical capacity had already crossed 36%. Therefore, taking this target to 50% is not difficult.

Third Target– India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now on till 2030. This means that India would bend its business-as-usual emissions trajectory to ensure at least 1 billion tonnes of emissions are saved.

Fourth Target: By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by less than 45 percent.

Is this target achievable? According to India’s third Biennial Update Report, by 2016, the emissions’ intensity of GDP had fallen by 24% compared to 2005. (This estimate excludes agriculture sector emissions).

Fifth Target: By the year 2070, India will achieve the target of Net Zero. This means that come 2070, India will not add a single particle of carbon into the atmosphere (or rather, it will capture and store all the particles it releases).

Source: This post is based on the article “Explained: PM’s climate promises, and how far India is on track to meet them” published in Indian Express on 8th November 2021.