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India’s Path to Net-Zero
Context:
As the world debates climate action at forums like COP-29, the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election may have a greater impact on global climate progress.
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- This underscores a key challenge in addressing climate change: aligning national interests with global cooperation.
- For instance, developed countries with abundant resources may resist change, while populous, developing nations like India face the dual challenge of growth and sustainability.
India’s Net Zero
- Commitment: India has committed to net-zero emissions by 2070, initiating policies to support this transition despite significant financial and resource constraints.
- Critical: Achieving net-zero is critical to limiting global temperature rise to within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as exceeding this threshold could lead to devastating consequences.
- Carbon Emissions: However, global carbon emissions must drastically decline to stay within the remaining carbon budget of 400-500 billion tonnes, given current annual emissions of 40 billion tonnes.
Is Net-Zero Equitable?
- Developed Countries: The developed world, responsible for most historical emissions, is expected to lead climate action and provide financial support.
- However, these commitments remain largely unmet.
- Developing Countries: Developing nations, including small island states, bear a disproportionate burden of climate change impacts.
- India: In India, per-capita emissions are among the world’s lowest, yet inequality is stark.
- The richest 10% contribute 20 times more emissions than the poorest 10%.
- Moreover, India’s development aspirations could strain its resources, potentially leading to groundwater depletion, extreme heat stress, and biodiversity loss if unchecked consumption mimics Western lifestyles.
Balancing Sustainability and Development
- Power Demand: If consumption grows unchecked and India electrifies all end-use applications, power demand could rise nine to tenfold by 2070.
- Renewable Energy: Achieving this solely through renewable energy would require over 5,500 GW of solar and 1,500 GW of wind capacity—targets that are difficult without compromising food security, forest cover, and biodiversity.
- Sufficiency Consumption Corridors: A more realistic approach involves setting “sufficiency consumption corridors,” balancing development goals with limits on unsustainable growth.
Demand and Supply Measures
- Demand-side strategies include energy-efficient construction, public and non-motorised transport, local product sourcing, dietary shifts, and alternative industrial fuels.
- On the supply side, decentralising energy production through rooftop solar and solar-powered agriculture, alongside expanding nuclear energy, can diversify India’s energy mix.
- Nuclear power, as a low-carbon baseload energy source, could complement intermittent renewables and facilitate a fossil fuel phase-out.
- As the global climate clock ticks, the margin for delay is shrinking. While external factors like U.S. elections remain uncontrollable, India must act decisively on what it can, ensuring sustainable development without compromising its future.
