- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
FOR India to achieve its target of having net-zero emissions by 2070, its solar-power capacity would have to go over 5,600 gigawatts (GW) and the use of coal, particularly in the power sector, will have to go down by a whopping 99 per cent by 2060 and crude oil would need to peak by 2050 and fall by 90 per cent in the two decades thereafter, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), New Delhi, has said.
On Monday (1), Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced on the opening day of the World Leaders’ Summit at COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, that India, which is the world’s third-biggest emitter, will become net-zero by 2070.
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According to CEEW, a not-for-profit policy research institution, “The economic cost of India’s net-zero 2070 transition (would be) over USD 13,000 billion between 2030 and 2100.”
For achieving the net-zero target, the Asian economy will have to clean up the most coal-reliant of the world’s biggest power sectors.
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“Coal-based (power) generation must peak by 2040 and reduce by 99 per cent between 2040 and 2060,” Press Trust of India reported CEEW as saying.
“Solar-based generation capacity must rise to 1,689 GW by 2050 and 5,630 GW by 2070. Wind-based electricity generation capacity must increase to 557 GW by 2050 and 1792 GW by 2070.”
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As of July this year, India had 96.96 GW of renewable energy capacity, representing 25.2 per cent of the overall installed power capacity. It is targeting about 450 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030 — about 280 GW (over 60 per cent) is expected from solar.
On Monday, Modi raised the 2030 target for renewable energy capacity to 500 GW from 450 GW and pledged to produce half of the country’s electricity using renewable energy. India will also cut carbon-dioxide emissions by one billion tonnes from business as usual by the end of the current decade.
To deliver on the 2070 goal, the country still has to lay out a detailed plan for four decades in between.
CEEW said the share of electric vehicles in car sales must reach 84 per cent by 2070. “The share of electric trucks in freight trucks must total 79% by 2070, the rest being fuelled by hydrogen. The share of biofuel blend in oil for cars, trucks and airlines must touch 84% by 2070.”
Use of coal in the industrial sector must peak by 2040 and reduce by 97 per cent between 2040 and 2065. The share of hydrogen in total industrial energy use (heat and feedstock) must rise to 15 per cent by 2050 and 19 per cent by 2070, the institution said.
“The intensity of electricity use in the building sector with respect to total GDP must decline by 45% between 2015 and 2050 and by another 2.5% between 2050 and 2070,” CEEW said, adding, crude oil consumption in the economy must peak by 2050 and decline by 90% between 2050 and 2070.
