Speaking at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) at Glasgow recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made very generous commitments on what India would do to save the planet from the perils of climate change. He committed to installing non-fossil fuel electricity generation capacity of 500 GW, sourcing 50% of India’s energy requirement from renewables, reducing 1 billion tonnes of projected emissions (from current emissions), achieving carbon intensity reduction of 40% over 2005 levels, all by 2030, and most importantly, achieving net-zero by 2070.
India has not been responsible for creating the problems of climate change and has very pressing growth imperatives today. Its per capita income is low, urbanization is taking place rapidly and demands for energy are growing simultaneously. The Indian government has expressed an ambition to nearly quadruple its economy from around $2.75 trillion today to about $10 trillion by 2030. Enabling this growth will itself be a herculean task, but doing so with the constraints of our climate commitments will need a transformation across many sectors. Actions have to make sure that the transition is equitable and ‘just’.
