With spectacular economic growth, Indian climate policies attract international interest. But rapidly growing energy consumption could belie India's green commitments.
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“Power for all”
The government aims to provide “power for all” of India’s over one billion people by 2012 – a goal that would require creating almost 100 Gigawatts (GW) of new electricity capacity. For comparison, Germany’s entire electricity generation capacity in 2003 was roughly 120 GW.
Coal
To meet this need, the government is planning to build several large, state-run coal power plants that can produce up to four Gigawatts each – several times the capacity of a modern nuclear power plant. India is the world’s third-biggest producer of coal (behind China and the United States), and nearly 70 percent of the country’s electricity is generated from the inexpensive and abundant, but environmentally hazardous fossil fuel. Relying on coal is in line with Indian President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s call for “energy independence” by 2030.
Going nuclear
A controversial bilateral nuclear deal with the United States would boost the Indian nuclear sector by giving the country access to advanced U.S. technology. According to researchers at Stanford University, replacing 30 GW of coal energy with nuclear energy would save India up to 218 million tons of emitted carbon dioxide each year. The U.S. Congress, however, has not passed the bill yet because India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Renewables
Non-nuclear and non-hydro renewable sources such as wind, solar, and biomass account for around six percent of Indian electricity capacity. The Ministry for Non-Conventional Energy Sources has declared its goal to raise this figure to 20-25 percent over the next two decades. The so-called National Mission on Biodiesel will aim to use 110,000 square kilometers of land to grow biofuel crops like Pongamia and Jatropha by 2012, to increase national supplies of petroleum alternatives.
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Energy Efficiency
Another component of India’s “power for all” policy is improving energy efficiency. The Energy Conservation Act of 2001 aims at improving efficiency in buildings, energy supply and consumer products. Education, standards, and labeling projects are supporting the initiative.
International Position
India ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, but as a developing country is exempt from emissions caps. The government rejects any post-Kyoto arrangement that would force it to accept mandatory cuts. Government officials say the burden of cutting of emissions should lie with industrialized countries, citing India’s relatively low per-capita emissions - roughly one-sixth those of the United States.
The former Indian environment minister Thiru A. Raja even said that "a war is on between developed and developing nations on global warming.” One estimate from the Indira Gandhi Institute for Rural Development in Mumbai says a 30-percent decrease in carbon emissions would raise the number of poor in India by as much as 17.5 percent.
Voluntary international initiatives
India is a member of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (AP6), a non-binding pact to mitigate climate change. One of the focus points of AP6, particularly for India and China, is the development of “clean coal” – burning coal, but through various processes, minimizing methane, sulfur and nitrogen oxides and particle pollution and capturing CO2 before it gets released into the atmosphere.
India is also one of 22 members of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, , an international group focused on developing, sharing and applying carbon dioxide transport and storage technologies.
Sources: Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), Worldwatch Institute, World Resources Institute, Times of India, Hindustan Times, Science and Development Network (SciDevNet), Council of Foreign Relations, WWF
editor: Valdis Wish
publishing date: June 4, 2007
