Syllabus Section: Environment and Ecology (GS Paper III)

Importance: UPSC Prelims and UPSC Mains

Why in News?

Recently, India’s announcement of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 has highlighted the importance of decarbonising the economy but the road ahead will be challenging.

About:

Decarbonisation:

Decarbonisation is the process of reducing the amount of carbon, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), sent into the atmosphere.

Impacts of Decarbonisation:

• Industrial decarbonization will propel India towards a sustainable future and further towards deep decarbonisation but it also causes loss to several players.
• Employment in fossil fuels and energy production, heavy industry and the vehicle manufacturing sectors are expected to be significantly impacted in the coming decades.
• Steel, petrochemicals, aluminium, cement, and fertilizer sectors are hard to abate sectors and cleaner pathways are yet to prove themselves economically.
• Heavy industries due to their longer lifespan cannot retire their existing machinery and switch to green fuels due to associated costs very quickly and this will impact global competitiveness,
• Another problem with heavy industries is the requirement of high temperature heat (>500 Degree Celsius), which can only be provided by burning fossil fuels.

 

 

Approaches needed to be taken for decarbonisation of economy:

 

• Breaking up into shorter periods - By 2070, there will be many changes in technology, environmental conditions and the economy.
• Setting up an autonomous agency – A technically credible agency like the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in the UK should be set up.

• It would also monitor progress and annually report and suggest mid-course corrections.

• Targeting the power sector - The power sector has to be focussed because it is the biggest source of GHG emissions and also the easiest one to decarbonise.

• Setting permissible emission intensity in terms of grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kWh of electricity sold would be a good option for targets in the power sector.

 

 

 

Source: Indian Express