Meeting India’s short- and long-term climate commitments made at COP26 entails a complete economic transformation, which can have considerable developmental tradeoffs. Many long-term energy and climate models that project low-carbon pathways for the country consider the gross domestic product (GDP) to be exogenously driving growth in various sectors. However, low-carbon policies or technologies will also impact GDP, as well as other economic variables like employment and income.

Almost 10 per cent of the total GHG emissions in India come from its transport sector. Attaining the ‘net zero’ goal calls for strong sectoral interventions, therefore.

India today has over 9 lakh registered electric vehicles (EVs). The efforts to promote EVs primarily include demand-side incentives—at both central and state levels (in accordance with their respective policies), setting up EV-charging infrastructures within major cities and along major highways, a stimulus to electric-bus adoption by different state transport undertakings, and boosting local manufacturing of essential parts through the production-linked-incentive scheme.

According to a Karnataka Government site, data from the last three years (FY 18-19 to FY 20-21) show that 58 departmental and 1,077 non-departmental fatal accidents took place at five state electricity distribution companies (DISCOMs) during this period.

The DISCOMs are usually responsible for the laying of distribution infrastructure that supplies electricity to the end consumers (residential, industrial, commercial, agriculture, and others). Though several public safety measures are in place, electrical accidents do occur, causing injury and/or loss of life and property.  

In the race for generating data to carry out scientific studies and publish reports, we tend to forget that end-users of such studies or reports are often the employees of state and Central departments. For them to understand the message from the report and the scientific process behind the conclusion, it is essential to make them a part of the studies right from the word ‘go’.

• In all countries, the clean energy transition comes with the problem of grid-balancing: matching the supply of power with its demand, owing to the intermittence of renewable energy.
• At the COP26 climate talks, India launched the ‘Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid’, the first international network of a global solar power grid – with the UK.
• Under the GGI-OSOWOG initiative, the Indian grid can initially be connected to Africa, which accounts for 40% of total global horizontal irradiance.
• The India-Africa inter