Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant reiterated the government’s commitment to achieving ‘Net Zero Emission’ targets in energy by 2050, even though it calls for a concerted strategy and massive investments.
Speaking after the launch of the report, “India: Transforming to a net-zero emissions energy system” by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Shell, Kant said, renewable energy, use of hydrogen on a mission mode and electric mobility will play a significant role in this transition.
He said, “With its geographic advantage and vast potential, not only can India materialise its renewable potential, it can also become a global leader to showcase its green energy pathways.”
Policy & innovation
The report states that “India needs a suitable policy and innovation driven context to deploy clean energy technologies on a massive scale. It requires more and faster deployment of large-scale solar, wind and hydro power to enable greater electrification. It also requires the development of new fuels, such as liquid biofuels and biogas, as well as hydrogen produced from electrolysis.”
Nitin Prasad, Chairman, Shell Companies in India, said “This energy transition has important implications in accelerating economic growth, local manufacturing, job creation and energy security.”
“The energy sector alone does not have enough choices with the technologies available today to achieve net-zero by 2050. The industry sector, in particular, lacks technological solutions,” said Dr Ritu Mathur, Director, Integrated Assessments & Modelling at TERI.
‘Transform bioenergy’
The report suggests huge push towards renewable energy, target 13 per cent hydrogen in final energy including as a fuel for industry and transport, and transform bioenergy, with liquid biofuels surpassing petroleum products by 2040.
Other suggestions include, “investment in processes, technologies and end uses to improve energy intensity per unit of GDP by almost 60 per cent by 2050, adopt economic mechanisms, such as carbon trading and/or pricing to facilitate re-allocation of capital and resources to support commercialisation of new fuels and technologies.”