With its ambitious green dreams, India remains central to the world’s shifting from conventional to renewable energy sources in the years to go. Last year, when India announced that it aims to reach net zero emissions by 2070 and to meet fifty percent of its electricity requirements from renewable energy sources by 2030, the same was seen as a hugely significant moment for the global fight against climate change.
India is pioneering a new model of economic development that could avoid the carbon-intensive approaches that many countries have pursued in the past – and provide a blueprint for other developing economies. The scale of transformation in India is stunning. Its economic growth has been among the highest in the world over the past two decades, lifting of millions of people out of poverty.
Every year, India adds a city the size of London to its urban population, involving vast construction of new buildings, factories and transportation networks. Coal and oil have so far served as bedrocks of India’s industrial growth and modernisation, giving a rising number of Indian people access to modern energy services. This includes adding new electricity connections for 50 million citizens each year over the past decade.
While the rapid growth in fossil energy consumption has meant India’s annual Co2 emissions have risen to become the third highest in the world, India’s Co2 emissions per person put it near the bottom of the world’s emitters. Similarly the average household in India consumes a tenth as much electricity as the average household in the United States. India’s energy demand is set to grow by more than that of any other country in the coming decades and this brings us to the low-carbon energy sources.
It is also in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of installing 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, reducing the emissions intensity of its economy by 45%, and reducing a billion tonnes of Co2. The clean energy transition in India is already well underway. It has overachieved its commitment made at COP 21- Paris Summit by already meeting 40% of its power capacity from non-fossil fuels- almost nine years ahead of its commitment and the share of solar and wind in India’s energy mix have grown phenomenally. Renewable electricity is growing at a faster rate in India than any other major economy, with new capacity additions on track to double by 2026.
The country is also one of the world’s largest producers of modern bioenergy and has big ambitions to scale up its use across the economy. A transition to clean energy is a huge economic opportunity. India is particularly well placed to become a global leader in renewable batteries and green hydrogen. Today India is well-positioned to adopt clean energy to achieve economic growth. As a large developing economy with over 1.3 billion people, India’s climate adaptation and mitigation ambitions are not just transformational for India but for the entire planet.
