New Delhi, November 17, 2016: In the first week of COP22, numerous side-events have taken place alongside the negotiations to turn the promises at Paris into action. To address the issues pertaining to climate action, a special event titled, ‘Low carbon pathway for sustainable development’ was organized by the Ministry of Power, Government of India. The success factor of the LED program is that scale of procurement have been used to drive pricing.
Multiple stakeholder groups deliberated on the need for collective action to meet individual NDCs and educating future generations to adopt climate-friendly lifestyles, creating access to low-cost finance and clean technology.
The dialogue was attended by senior representatives of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), one of the world’s leading independent think tanks dedicated to conducting research for sustainable development of India and the Global South, among others.
Placing the focus on market-based mechanisms and carbon-pricing as powerful tools, that governments and businesses are using across the globe to respond to climate change, Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director-General, TERI, said that “while a regulatory framework and clear pricing signal by the government are key, industries across the world have an important role to play in the effort to meet country specific INDCs related to market-based mechanisms. An example of this can be seen in the success of the LED program in which the scale of procurement was used to drive pricing.”
Emphasizing on the importance of political ownership to enable change, especially, together with a narrative that makes sense to consumers of energy he pointed to the success of the PAT scheme which looked at the operating conditions of the Indian industry critically, before setting-up the energy reduction targets as a result of which India, now, has the best energy efficient industrial plants in the world.
In India, both market and pricing instruments are implemented to incentivize energy efficiency, promote renewable energy generation, or guide market movements away from fossil fuels.
Sharing an insight on achieving greater energy efficiency, Dr. Mathur said, “In the context of rapid urbanization, a timely opportunity awaits us to design new policies for achieving greater energy efficiency even as 2/3rd of the buildings in 2030 are yet to be built.”
The Indian government is consistently signalling industries strongly towards this shift. This will help in preparing the way for investments in innovation and modernization within industries at a time which will help them prepare for the global market movement towards de-carbonization. Also, this will refine the responses towards any future market based mechanism that may exist beyond 2020, in the light of meeting India’s INDCs.
India, notably, played a constructive and collaborative role towards reaching the Agreement. India’s INDCs pledge a 33-35 per cent reduction in emissions intensity of GDP by 2030. Towards this, the country has pledged to increase the share of renewable sources of energy, a major focus on energy efficiency, as well as a range of measures that decrease the environmental footprint of the nation’s development roadmap. In fact, India can greatly benefit from the modifying and adopting the global success stories on energy efficiency to its end.
About TERI
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is a leading think tank dedicated to conducting research for sustainable development of India and the Global South. TERI was established in 1974 as an information centre on energy issues. However, over the following decades, it made a mark as a research institute, whose policy and technology solutions transformed people’s lives and the environment. TERI’s key focus lies in promoting clean energy, water management, pollution management, sustainable agriculture and climate resilience.