At the COP26 climate summit on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced 2070 as the target for India to reach net zero carbon emissions.
India’s announcement came as a surprise to delegates at the climate talks in Glasgow, as it had rejected calls to announce such a target only last week. Environment secretary RP Gupta had argued that it was more important for the world to lay out a pathway to reduce emissions than just achieving carbon neutrality.
A net-zero target refers to the date by which point a country will only emit carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases that can be absorbed by forests, crops, soil and developing technologies like carbon capture technology.
OTHERS’ NET-ZERO TARGETS
2050: US, UK, Japan, EU
But as a developing country, it is more difficult for India to do away with fossil fuels like coal.
TOP GREENHOUSE GAS EMITTERS
According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021 published by the think-tank GermanWatch, India is the seventh-most affected country by extreme weather events. India’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 may seem far-fetched.
To support this goal, Prime Minister Modi made four other aggressive pledges, all of them to be achieved by 2030.
INDIA’S SHORTER-TERM TARGETS FOR 2030
And finally, the Prime Minister said India would reduce its projected total carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by the end of the decade. India emitted 2.62 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2019 and it is projected to reach 4.5 billion tonnes in 2030. Given this context, India’s target is quite considerable.
According to Rahul Tongia, Senior Fellow, CSEP:
According to BloombergNEF data, more than 70% of India’s electricity came from coal power plants last year.
India still has to frame a comprehensive plan for the 40 years from 2030 to deliver on its goal of carbon neutrality. But what underpins the progress on this issue is money.
Consider that in 2018, the government said India would need $2.5 trillion to achieve its 2030 climate change targets under the Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs agreed at the Paris Climate Accords.
According to Chirag Gajjar, head Subnational Climate Action, WRI India: