India’s Net Zero Plan Document at COP27 [UPSC Notes]

Recently India released a strategy document called ‘Long Term Low Emission Development Strategy’ (LT-LEDS) to achieve net zero emissions by 2070 at COP27 in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh. In this article, you can read all about this document for the IAS exam.

India’s Net Zero Plan

India came out with the target to achieve net zero by 2070, as it promised in the previous COP meeting (COP26). In the COP27 held in Egypt in November 2022, India deliberated upon the mechanism to achieve the aforesaid target. 

• India also promised to meet its 50% energy demand from renewable sources of energy. 

Source: TOI

                                                    Image: Paris climate agreement

Support mechanism required to meet the target of net zero: 

• The decarbonisation strategy of India laid upon the commitment made by the developed countries to provide financial support to the developing countries. 
• In order to meet its target successfully India would need “trillions of dollars” as specified in COP27 at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt. 
• India has also laid down the numerical figures that it would need to fulfil its target. Adapting to climate change could cost India more than Rs 85 trillion by 2030.

Challenges in meeting the target: 

• The nonchalant attitude of the developed countries in terms of meeting their climate funding obligation is one of the biggest hurdles in the process of achieving the target of the climate agreement. 
• India is forced to achieve a climate agreement and is held as one of the biggest emitters, but if we plunge into the details, we would notice that India’s per capita emissions are 1/10th of the USA’s. 
• If the present situation continues without any improvement it would seriously imperil the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping the temperature rise down to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Steps taken by India for meeting its Net Zero Commitments

Some of the major initiatives taken by India to achieve the net zero emissions target are as follows.

• India launched the National Hydrogen Mission in 2021, which is expected to spearhead India towards the status of becoming a hydrogen exporter in the world. Though India was the net importer of crude oil, it will become the exporter of green hydrogen. 
  • One of the biggest advantages of green hydrogen is that it reduces the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere thus contributing to reducing the greenhouse effect. 
• India has also come out with ethanol blending targets. India has enumerated that it would achieve 20% ethanol blending with petroleum by 2025. Know more about the ethanol blending programme of the government in the linked article.
• Another important step in this regard is the promotion of electric vehicles through FAME India schemes. According to the NITI Aayog vision document, 30% of the total vehicles on Indian roads by 2030 would be the Electric Vehicles. 
  • Electricity’s share in industrial energy will have to multiply three-fold by 2070. Electricity-driven four-wheelers should constitute 70-80 per cent of the road traffic.
  • This would help in reducing overall vehicular pollution in the country. 
• The new vehicle scrappage policy incentivises consumers to sell their old vehicles which are more polluting and replace them with electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles. 
• Additionally, India has also laid much importance upon Carbon Storage and Capturing (CCS) to remove GHGs before they enter the atmosphere. Currently, this technology is very expensive and complex. So there is a need to make an effort to enable the transfer of technology (ToT) in this domain.
• India is planning large-scale interventions in five sectors: 
  • Energy and electricity 
  • Transport
  • Urban design
  • Industries 
  • Forestry

Conclusion: Climate change has emerged as one of the biggest challenges for humanity. If this crisis is not addressed at the earliest then it could lead to havoc in the coming times. Therefore, it is quintessential that every country should take this issue seriously and do its best to overcome this crisis. 

India’s Net Zero Plan Document at COP27:- Download PDF Here