Low Carbon News in India in November 2015
India unveils global solar alliance of 120 countries at Paris climate summit
India’s prime minister has launched an international solar alliance of over 120 countries with the French president, François Hollande, at the Paris COP21 climate summit.
Narendra Modi told a press conference that as fossil fuels put the planet in peril, hopes for future prosperity in the developing world now rest on bold initiatives.
“Solar technology is evolving, costs are coming down and grid connectivity is improving,” he said. “The dream of universal access to clean energy is becoming more real. This will be the foundation of the new economy of the new century.”
Modi described the solar alliance as “the sunrise of new hope, not just for clean energy but for villages and homes still in darkness, for mornings and evening filled with a clear view of the glory of the sun”.
Modi asks rich nations to cut emissions, share carbon space with poor
Prime Minister wants the $100 billion a year plan for assistance from the rich to poor nations by 2020 expedited.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned the focus of the Paris Climate Conference to the historic high carbon emissions of rich nations and asked them to ratify the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol which major emitters have not done.
Addressing the Leaders Event at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change here on Monday evening, Mr. Modi said the developed world should ratify Kyoto’s second commitment in the period up to 2020, after which developing countries have pledged to begin their own voluntary actions.
The Indian Prime Minister’s reference to the Protocol stood out at the COP21 conference, where the discussions were mostly future-focussed, for the post-2020 era. The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ended in 2012 and many advanced nations have baulked at engaging in mitigation actions, looking at domestic political compulsions.
In a clear message that the onus of mitigation fell on the West, Mr. Modi said in an equitable system emissions reduction should be consistent with the carbon space that nations occupy.
India a partner in climate change fight: US
Comes after Kerry’s statement that India could be a ‘challenge’ in negotiations did not go well in New Delhi.
The United States appears careful not to be confrontational with India ahead of the Paris climate conference, after New Delhi reacted sharply to Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement earlier this month that India would be a “challenge” in negotiations.
A State Department spokesperson, despite repeated attempts by The Hindu, refused to elaborate what the Secretary of State meant by ‘challenge,’ and instead chose to underscore that the U.S and India were partnering in combating climate change.
Ahead of Paris meet, Berlin’s billions put India firmly on low-carbon track
Recognizing “renewable energy” and “efficient use of energy” as the most effective routes to mitigate climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions, India and Germany on Monday decided to move on this path more aggressively under the new ‘Indo-German Climate and Renewable Alliance’. They identified seven focus areas to intensify their ongoing cooperation. Germany, on its part, will provide soft loans worth one billion euros to India for solar projects over the next five years in addition to 1.15 billion euros that Berlin had committed earlier under ‘Green Energy Corridors Partnership’. The alliance will be a comprehensive partnership to harness “technology, innovation and finance” in order to make affordable, clean and renewable energy accessible to all and to foster climate change mitigation efforts in both countries.
India’s INDC objectives and how much it will cost
Reduce emission intensity by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels How: Introduce new, more efficient and cleaner technologies in thermal power generation Reducing emissions from transportation sector Promote energy efficiency, mainly in industry, transportation, buildings and appliances Develop climate resilient infrastructure Pursue Zero Effect, Zero Defect policy under Make in India programme Produce 40 per cent of electricity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030, if international community helps with technology transfer and low cost finance. How: Install 175 GW of solar, wind and biomass electricity by 2022, and scale up further in following years Aggressively pursue development of hydropower Achieve the target of 63 GW of installed nuclear power capacity by 2032 Create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030 through additional forest and tree cover.
Development of Solar Cities
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has approved 56 solar cities projects against the target of 60 solar cities under the Development of Solar Cities Programme, so far.
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28
By 2017, India should not need to Import Thermal Coal”
Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, and New and Renewable Energy said that by 2017, India should not need to import thermal coal except for the coastal power plants. He said that era of shortages is over in coal sector. Shri Piyush Goyal said this after releasing the India’s report titled ‘The Rising Sun – Disruption on the horizon’ at ENRich 2015, KPMG in India’s annual energy conclave here today. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28
Funds for Solar Power Plants
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has released Rs.125.64 crore and Rs.387 crore have been released to State Governments/implementing agencies for setting up of grid connected solar power plants during the year 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively.
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/pmreleases.aspx?mincode=28