In a move that will energise the global efforts at climate change, India committed to achieve net zero emissions by 2070. This commitment was buttressed with four near-term targets. By 2030, India would increase its non-fossil fuel energy capacity to 500 GW, increase the share of renewables in the energy mix to 50%, and reduce the emissions intensity of its economy by 45%. India also committed to reduce emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030.
Addressing the COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the five-point climate ‘Panchamrit’, or pledge. As he set new and tougher targets for India, Modi called for a new financial target of $1 trillion, money that the developed countries would provide the developing countries.
In doing so, India gave support to the Africa Group’s demand for $1 trillion in climate finance. “When we as developing countries are increasing the ambition of our climate action, then the amount of climate finance cannot remain the same as it was at Paris,” Modi said in a stark reminder of the global compact that has been forged to address climate change, but one that has been consistently undermet….
Read more at
India to invest $1.61 billion to link more green energy projects to grid
India’s cabinet approved a plan on January 6, 2022 to build transmission lines costing $1.61 billion over 5 years to link 20 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects from seven states with the grid, as the nation moves to cut its carbon emissions.
India, the world’s third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, aims to cut its projected emissions by a billion tonnes by 2030 and raise renewable power generation to 430 GW, equivalent to about half of the country’s energy mix. Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year announced 2070 as the target for India to reach net zero carbon emissions.The federal government will provide assistance equal to about a third of the overall 120 billion rupee investment required for the expansion of transmission lines in the second phase of the so called green corridor project, a government statement said.
The scheme will add about 10,750 circuit kilometres of transmission lines, for projects in western state of Gujarat, the desert state of Rajasthan, the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, and the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, it said.
In the first phase of the project to be completed this year, India is building 9,700 circuit kilometers of transmission lines.
Read more at
https://www.reuters.com/article/india-power-idUSL4N2TM27P
Global temperature may rise of 2.7°C by the end of the century: UNEP Report
This Emissions Gap Report confirms the findings of the UNFCCC report. It expands the assessment to consider announced mitigation pledges for 2030 in addition to the new and updated NDCs. The report shows that new or updated NDCs and announced pledges for 2030 have only limited impact on global emissions and the emissions gap in 2030, reducing projected 2030 emissions by only 7.5 percent, compared with previous unconditional NDCs, whereas 30 per cent is needed to limit warming to 2°C and 55 per cent is needed for 1.5°C. If continued throughout this century, they would result in warming of 2.7°C………
Read more at
https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2021
L & T aims to be Carbon Neutral by 2040
Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Thursday said it targets to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. The target is ahead of the Paris Agreement deadline of 2050.
The management of L&T is now committed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, said the company’s Whole-Time Director and Senior Executive Vice-President (Energy) Subramanian Sarma. Sarma said this during the virtual launch of 4th Integrated Report ‘Sustainable Progress for a Better World’. ….
Incidentally, L&T’s key arms such as Mindtree, L&T Infotech (LTI), L&T Technologies (LTTS) and L&T Finance Holdings Ltd (LTFH) are also taking meaningful actions and ambitious targets in these areas. Mindtree, LTI and LTTS have taken targets of becoming carbon neutral and water neutral by 2030. Similarly, LTFH has taken the target to become carbon neutral by 2035.
Read more at
IITB Group Win XPRIZE Carbon Removal Student Competition Supported By Elon Musk Foundation
The IIT Bombay student team, led by PhD student Srinath Haran Iyer from IDP Climate Study group won the US$250,000 XPRIZE Carbon Removal Student Competition supported by the Elon Musk Foundation, for the ‘Demonstration of Carbon Dioxide Removal’. The team was mentored by IDPCS associate faculty Prof. Arnab Dutta and Prof. Vikram Vishal. IITB is the only single-institution team from India, among 23 winning teams from ten countries, out of the 195 applicants globally.
Read more at
Reliance to invest $80 billion in green energy projects in Gujarat
India’s Reliance Industries Ltd said on Thursday it would invest Rs 5.95 lakh crore ($80.49 billion) in green energy and other projects in the western state of Gujarat, as the conglomerate targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2035.
The company will invest Rs. 5 lakh crore over a span of 10 to 15 years to set up a 100 gigawatts renewable energy power plant and has already started scouting land for the project, it said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
The remaining sum will consist of Rs. 60,000 crore for setting up solar modules and fuel cells and Rs. 25,000 crore rupees for investment in existing projects and new ventures over the next three to five years. …Economic Times Jan 14, 2022
Read more at
The Carbon Inequality Era
In the 25 years from 1990 to 2015, annual global carbon emissions grew by 60%, approximately doubling total global cumulative emissions. This has brought the world perilously close to exceeding 2°C of warming, and it is now on the verge of exceeding 1.5°C. This paper examines the starkly different contributions of different income groups to carbon emissions in this period. It draws on new data that provides much improved insight into global and national income inequality, combined with national consumption emissions over this 25-year period, to provide an analysis relating emissions to income levels for the populations of 117 countries. Future scenarios of carbon inequality are also presented based on different possible trajectories of economic growth and carbon emissions, highlighting the challenge of ensuring a more equitable distribution of the remaining and rapidly diminishing global carbon budget.”
Read more at
https://www.sei.org/publications/the-carbon-inequality-era/