Page 16 - AsiaElec Week 44 2021

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India sets 2070 target

for net zero

INDIA INDIA’S Prime Narendra Modi has told COP26 Coal also accounts for 73% of its electricity
in Glasgow that India aims to reach net zero by production.
2070, by far the latest date yet set by any country. China and Russia have both set 2060 for car-
Speaking on the second day of the confer- bon neutrality, and the US 2050, meaning that
ence, he outlined a list of five targets that India India’s 2070 target is currently unique, and far
aimed to meet, including building 500 GW of less urgent than other countries’ commitments.
non-fossil capacity by 2030, and renewables This contrasts with the Inter-governmental
accounting for 50% of energy by 2030. Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has set
However, he also called for the developed 2050 as the latest date that would limit tempera-
world to provide $1 trillion of climate finance ture rises to 1.5C by 2100.
to the world’s poorer nations in a bid to achieve Modi also said that India would reduce the
climate justice. carbon intensity of its economy by 45% by 2030,
Modi’s announcement was the first major up from the previous target of 35%.
milestone to be revealed at the Glasgow confer- The 500-GW target for non-fossil fuel gener-
ence, after an afternoon of high-minded words ation, mainly solar and wind, is also an increase
and exhortations from world leaders, headed by from the current target of 175 GW for 2022.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President India currently has about 100 GW of green
Joe Biden and UN Secretary General António power capacity and is likely to miss 175 GW as
Guterres. well.
Host Johnson said that the world was at “one Modi’s targets were accompanied by an
minute to midnight,” and that this was its “last impassioned call for rich countries to provide
chance.” the finance needed to the energy transition in
Biden highlighted that the world’s nations the global south.
had a “moral imperative” to combat climate India has long argued that nations that indus-
change, and that Glasgow was a chance to seal trialised earlier should bear a much greater share
a “decisive deal.” of the burden of decarbonisation as they have
Guterres warned that as the world is still dig- contributed far more to emissions over time.
ging coal and oil, we are “digging our own grave.” His appeal for $1 trillion of financing con-
India is the world’s third-largest emitter of trasts with OECD members’ failure so far to
greenhouse (GHG) gases, producing 714mn provide $100bn per year of climate financing, as
tonnes in 2019, behind China and the US. already promised.™

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