He also said that India’s climate goals would require an investment of about $35 million in energy storage in this decade alone.
Ahead of the upcoming Union Budget, environmental experts called for a budgetary allocation under “green spending” on January 31 to show that India is ready to meet the increased targets announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a 26-party conference in Glasgow. serious for.
He also said that India’s climate goals would require an investment of about $35 million in energy storage in this decade alone. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget for the financial year starting April 1, 2022, on Tuesday.
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“The Union Budget this time can be an opportunity to bring attention and direction by announcing the green expenditure head in the budget. The public expenditure allocation could intersect with a number of programs across sectors, some of which could be tagged as ‘green’ and would indicate that the Indian government would meet the increased commitment announced by the Prime Minister in Glasgow. is serious about raising your game. Dhruba Purkayastha, India Director of Climate Policy Initiative said.
Talking about India’s ambition to increase non-fossil power capacity to 500GW in just nine years, another expert said budget stimulus is needed to meet the targets.
“India’s climate goals will require an investment of about $35 billion in energy storage in this decade alone. Budget incentives and risk guarantees to attract investment in battery storage will be key to scaling up non-fossil power generation.
“India’s climate goals aim to increase non-fossil” Power capacity from 158GW to 500GW in just nine years, Since land is precious, we need budget incentives to realize the full potential of rooftop solar photo voltaic (systems),” said Ulka Kelkar, director, climate programme, World Resources Institute (WRI) India.
Ms Kelkar said that since critical mineral deposits are scarce, the budget circular could provide impetus to the economy, urban mining and e-waste recycling.
“It would be great to see the creation of a National Transition Fund for fossil fuel sector workers and MSMEs, which could also attract grants from the International Climate Fund,” she said.
Another expert said the government should focus on developing long-term climate resilience and adaptation pathways, for which adequate funds should be earmarked in the budget.
“Recent cyclones such as Yas, Touke and 2021 Chennai floods are reminders that the government must focus on developing long-term climate resilience and adaptation pathways for India.
“Budget 2022-23 should set aside sufficient resources to support resilience activities at the local level, particularly in scaling up nature-based solutions, building grassroots capacities, and working through state and local governments. ,” a. Nambi Appadurai, Director, Climate Resilience Exercise Program, WRI India.
Such investments will have many more long-term benefits for India’s climate commitments, people, their livelihoods and the country’s GDP, he added.
The experts also called for budgetary allocation for ‘green hydrogen’, citing its importance in the industrial sector and in research and development to help indigenous green hydrogen production and use as an industrial fuel.
“Green hydrogen has many industrial uses and could potentially ease many hard-hit sectors such as the iron and steel industry.
“The outlay of Rs 1,200 crore by 2024 in the upcoming budget could trigger pilots in various end-use applications such as testing of green hydrogen readiness of natural gas pipelines, underground hydrogen storage, and pilots for equipment such as furnaces, boilers and process heaters. . Hemant Mallya, Senior Program Leader, Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), said.
Mr Mallya also sought another ₹165 crore to support research and development, especially on catalysts and electrolyser membranes, finding alternatives to critical minerals, setting up testing laboratories and implementing safety standards.
“These investments will help in indigenizing green hydrogen production and using it as an industrial fuel,” he said.
Another expert urged the government to provide direct income support to farmers in the upcoming budget instead of fertilizer subsidy, as the maximum applied fertilizer is leaking into the air and water, causing pollution.
“Our financial outlay on fertilizer subsidy is touching ₹1,55,000 crore, with over 78% of the fertilizer leaking into our air and water, causing pollution. Instead, the government should consider providing direct income support to farmers in a budget-neutral approach.
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“₹1,55,000 crore can provide income support of over ₹11,000 per hectare of net sown area in the country. Such support, structured equally across different sections of farmers, would not only be administratively more efficient but would encourage more judicious use of fertilizers, saving the environment as well as a win-win situation for the government and farmers. Will create,” said Abhishek Jain. Partner and Director, Powering Livelihoods, CEEW.
During the COP 26 summit last year, Mr Modi made five commitments from India to the world. These included a promise to get 50% of the country’s energy from renewable resources by 2030 and to reduce total estimated carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by the same year.
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