Climate Change Mitigation

Globally, efforts are underway to prepare country-level climate strategies in the run-up to the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP26) at Glasgow in November this year. But, like several developing countries, India seems to be taking a wait-and-watch approach to submit its long-term strategies (LTS) under the Paris Agreement. The Agreement urges all Parties to ‘formulate and communicate their long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies’.

•The study estimated the investment required to meet new emission standards for coal power plants in India till 2030.

•The cost of electricity generation from coal power plants will increase by 9–25% with pollution control technologies.

•Study also highlighted the challenges in implementing emission standards and provided suitable policy recommendations.

By now, it is evident that India’s current housing conditions make it challenging to practice lockdown and self-quarantining effectively. For starters, our high population density and low open space per capita in urban areas make outdoor social distancing practically impossible.

IH2® is a waste-to-energy technology which converts a broad range of residues, including sorted municipal waste (up to 20% plastic content), agricultural residues to gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel-range hydrocarbon fuels. CSTEP performed the resource and impact assessment for large scale deployment IH2®. We estimated the agro-residues (for 10 states) and municipal solid waste (for 42 major cities) to examine the potential for adoption of IH2® technology.

The link between rising levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and changing climatic patterns was first definitively put forth in 1898 by Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist. In the decades since Arrhenius, climate science has developed considerably, establishing with even greater conviction that climate change is closely connected to anthropogenic GHG emissions. As a result, there is a growing global awareness of the importance of reducing emissions in an effort to mitigate climate change.

Energy-environment-economy models (commonly known as E3) are often used to explore greenhouse gas mitigation policies. One such class of models is the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The large-scale, comprehensive analytical framework is widely used to make long-term projections on issues related to growth, jobs, investments and emissions. More importantly, it can be used to assess the economy-wide consequences of changes in policies.

Many observers agree that India's climate targets and the recent policy thrust are balanced and rightly safeguard India’s right to develop. The NDC itself remained anchored to principles of Common But Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) and is in line with India’s capabilities. So far, India has not yet undergone a high fossil intensive growth — its emissions intensity of GDP and per capita emissions are quite low. However, going forward, all eyes are on us. How will India marry its growth ambition with our goal to remain 'sustainable'?

We believe that in long-term forecasting, understanding the dynamic behaviour of the system and its responses to various interventions is crucial.

COP25 comes close on the heels of the UN Climate Summit in New York, in September. Several countries (68 countries accounting for 8% of global GHG emissions) signalled that they will be strengthening commitments at Madrid.