India spells out domestic initiatives to reduce GHGs: some primary concerns!

Dear Friends/Co-sailors,

I am sharing below the latest figures shared by the Govt. of India with regard to the domestic initiatives it has been taking to reduce GHGs.

Hope you would find this piece of information useful.  To me, there are a few concerns that need to be addressed by the govt. 

1. The participatory consultation processes they have mentioned seems to be misleading.  We have not really heard of any extensive consultations in this regard.  

2.  Without a strong will to phase out coal fulled power plants, I am not hopeful of the solar mission's success.  

3.  In solar power also, the capacity addition through giant plants would not serve the purpose of greening the power sector.

4. The plan to increase capacity of small hydro power sends a note of caution. 

This is just a quick response.  Will share more reports and analyses as and when we access.

Thanks and regards,

Ranjan Panda

Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network, India (CCCNI)

Convenor, Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO)

Mahanadi River Waterkeeper (Member, Global Waterkeeper Alliance)

Mob: +91-94370-50103

Email: ranjanpanda@gmail.com

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India has taken several domestic initiatives to address climate change. Government has been implementing the National Action Plan on Climate Change to support domestic actions for adaptation and mitigation. NAPCC has eight National Missions including inter alia, the National Solar Mission, National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency and National Mission on Sustainable Habitat which focus on containing the greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Further, 27 States and 5 Union Territories have prepared State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) consistent with the objectives of NAPCC, focusing on the state specific issues relating to climate change and strategies to tackle them.

India, being a Non-Annex I country party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), does not have any legally binding commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. However, government has voluntarily announced to reduce emission intensity of Gross Domestic Product by 20-25% by 2020 from the 2005 level without reckoning the emissions from agriculture sector.

In light of the decision of Conference of Parties held in Lima in 2014, whereby all Parties have to communicate their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) well in advance of the twenty-first session of the Conference of Parties, by 1st October 2015 in a manner that facilitates clarity, transparency and understanding of the intended nationally determined contributions, Government of India has undertaken an elaborate multi-stakeholder consultation process for finalizing its INDCs for submission ahead of the expected date.

As per a report on ‘India: Greenhouse Gas Inventory-2007’, the net Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from India in 2007 with Land Use Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) were 1727.71 million tons of CO2 equivalent (eq). Out of which, CO2 emissions were 1221.76 million tons, Methane (CH4) emissions were 20.56 million tons; and Nitrous Oxide (N2O) emissions were 0.24 million tons. GHG emissions from Energy sector constituted 58%, Industry sector constituted 22%, Agriculture sector constituted 17% and Waste sector constituted 3% of the net CO2 eq emissions. The Energy sector emitted 1100.06 million tons of CO2 eq of which 719.31 million tons of CO2 eq were emitted from electricity generation, 142.04 million tons of CO2 eq from the transport sector, 137.84 from Residential and 100.87 million tons of CO2 eq were emitted from other energy sources. Land use, Land use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector was a net sink. It sequestered 177.03 million tons of CO2.

The Government has proposed revision of the target of renewable energy capacity of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to 175 GW by 2022. The revised target of 175 GW comprises capacity addition of 100GW Solar, 60GW Wind, 10GW Biomass and 5 GW Small Hydro Power. Out of 2800 major industries, so far 920 industries have installed on-line continuous (24X7) monitoring devices.

Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change has suggested amendment to the relevant provisions of the Environment protection rules 1986 by proposing stringent norms and standards for compliance by various categories of industries such as Sugar Industry, Paint Industry, Pulp and Paper industry, Fertilizer industry, Cement plants with Co-processing, Brick-kiln industry and Textile industry etc. with the objective to Control pollution, bringing energy efficiency, better solid waste management, water conservation and zero liquid discharge.

This information was given by Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar in Lok Sabha on 4th August 2015)

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