No silver bullet for India’s net zero puzzle: Think tank

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address at COP26, promised to achieve a net zero carbon level by 2070. The five-point climate action plan has been dubbed as “Panchamrit”, meaning five values ​​believed to promote India’s switch to renewable energy, electrification and hydrogen fuel. ,

India also released its long-term low emission and development strategies today at the two-week long climate conference COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. However, India’s commitment to combating climate change surprisingly has its own complexities due to its demographics and the country’s economic system.

A latest report by the Bengaluru-based think tank Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) titled No Silver Bullet: Essays on India’s Net-Zero Transition aims to spur conversations that touch on these complex areas, thereby To offer a futuristic perspective on the future of India. Net-zero route.

“Future uncertainty is not a new concept and modeling groups are trying to address it by creating several different scenarios for the future. However, presenting only range scenarios cannot be a proxy for deep uncertainty analysis,” The report said this is in five key areas – the demand estimation puzzle, industrial decarbonisation, the power sector, behavioral shifts to a sustainable environment and carbon pricing.

While studies in the past have pointed to a net-zero transition resulting in significant GDP gains, this report raises a valid question whether demand will increase in a net-zero world.

“As countries develop, per capita demand for certain goods and services declines,” the report said. Regions that can reach the saturation point.

When it comes to industrial decarbonization, the report recommends electrification as an efficient way to meet the power demands of industries.

The report said, “Grids are expected to be increasingly driven by renewables as their falling prices are driven forward, with 90% for the aluminum industry and 90% for the cement industry from completely switching to grid-based electricity.” There may be a reduction of up to 15%,” the report said. ,

The report also mentions the commercialization of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and green hydrogen technologies as options.

livemint The authors were asked to suggest this because the use of carbon capture and storage methods is seen by some sections within the scientific community as justification for the indefinite use of fossil fuels.

“For hard-hit sectors such as the cement and steel industries, we find that measures such as electrification, energy efficiency and alternative fuels are unable to make it to full decarbonisation.” Kaveri Ashoka was one of the three authors of this report.

“Net zero appears to be contingent on green hydrogen with emerging technologies such as carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and other measures,” she adds.

The report bats for the adoption of nuclear power along with renewable energy, citing the challenges involved in the RE sector. Intermittent issues, high dependence on certain minerals – copper, cobalt and lithium and land conflicts are some of them.

With about 30% of India’s population living in poverty and per capita consumption levels below the global average, the report said “it would be unreasonable to consider any substantial shortfall in consumption.” Smart mobility choices and use of energy saving appliances as some of the ways to live for a sustainable environment.

As India prepares to introduce carbon pricing, the report maintains a cautiously optimistic tone due to the spillovers it will have on the Indian economy.

“Carbon pricing can play a role in driving the changes in energy systems we need to reach net zero, but this must be done through non-market interventions such as targeted support for emerging innovations, strengthening institutional capacities and restructuring of markets.” would need to be complemented.” think tank analyst Kritika Ravi Shankar said.