India's CO2 emissions increasing at 3% pa

In spite of India having acceded to the Kyoto Protocol, many leading environmentalists and economists have declared that developing nations with energy-hungry economies require the "ecological space to grow."

Carbon dioxide emissions are then sure to soar along with expanding economies. S K Joshi, a senior official in the environment ministry asserted that the Kyoto Protocol and its emission caps are improbable for India in the next 20-25 years.

The truth be told, India's per capita carbon dioxide emissions amount to a paltry 0.93 tonnes per annum. It is unfair to compare and equate a country of India's size and population with top greenhouse gas emitters such as Germany.

Despite its low per capita CO2 emissions, India has been considered an important contributor to global green house gases (GHG) emissions. With its size, fast growth in energy demand and its coal significant fuel mix, India contributed over 4% of world total CO2 emissions in 2000. With ambitious expansion planned in the energy sector, India's contribution to world carbon emissions is expected to grow at an average 3% a year until 2025.

Economic growth, however, need not be necessarily threatened by climate mitigation approaches which are intended to work along side, not divert from fundamental fiscal goals.

PROMOTE SUSTAINABLITY

The Kyoto Treaty's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) had been intended as an international instrument that would reduce GHG mitigation costs as well as promote sustainable development. With low-cost abatement opportunities, developing countries are eligible for credits for the resultant emission reductions. Emissions trading is an innovative approach to tackle climate change at minimum cost to industries. Energy efficiency plays just as big a role as energy generation as it tackles climate change through reduced carbon emissions.

Understanding the necessity to cut greenhouse gas emissions, India, along with the United States, Japan, China, Australia, and South Korea formed the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate to accelerate development of clean energy technologies.

Since India's primary sectors like agriculture and forestry are climate dependent, and because of its low financial and technical adaptive capacity, India has begun to explore options for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and adaptation to climate change and variability. Technological and biological fixes which beat local level pollution and energy solutions that have intensive greenhouse gas benefits; increasing rate of carbon sequestration etc are currently being explored.

By voluntarily developing and sharing technological measures to generate energy and reduce not only CO2 emissions but also depletion of natural resources and other such social and environmental after effects of energy consumption, developing countries can ensure their economic policies and lifestyles take them on a more sustainable path. Tapping energy from locally available, low cost, renewable sources of energy needs to be given this high priority as India accounts for more than 17 % of the world population.

CHEAPER ALTERNATIVES

India has decided to mitigate CO2 emissions by formulating, assessing, and implementing economic and technical solutions to climate change issues. However, rising fuel prices are forcing a regress to cheaper alternatives such as coal.

Blessed with vast natural sources of coal, India has to combat CO2 emissions. New clean coal technologies such as the Coal bed methane capture and commercial utilization (FP) promoted by GEF (Global Environmental Facility) could cut emissions.

India has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world. Renewable sources of energy such as wind, large-scale hydro, and photo-voltaic turbines are still quite dear. To counter act this, initiatives such as USAID-India's Greenhouse Gas Pollution Prevention (GEP) project for new energy generation methods such as Alternative Bagasse Cogeneration (ABC) component wherein bagasse, a sugar mill waste product, is utilized in high-efficiency cogeneration units to create electricity. By generating 500 million kWh of electricity using bagasse and other biomass fuels, India has the potential capacity to off-set nearly 550,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

India has thus positively approached Kyoto's requirements by making the most of the synergies between national and universal environmental priorities to efficiently use international resources for national development.

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

The Indian Government has actively participated and cooperated with all industries, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), and research institutes to;

• recognize and categorize development projects according to priority,
• restructure criteria and simplify investment procedures making them transparent
• Build up the capacity of existing institutions to evaluate, implement, and monitor projects.

The primary agency for coordinating climate change policy in India is the Ministry of Environment and Forests who work in sync with related ministries such as the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources to identify and develop GHG mitigation projects.

By sensitizing corporate India to climate changes and making them aware of the GHG issues, this aims to ensure promotion of both renewable energy and energy efficiency. Sustainable development in the energy sphere as well as healthy economic growth can go hand in hand.

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Australian Minister of Industry, Resources and Tourism Ian MacFarlane at the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate (APP) inaugural meeting in Sydney

(Photo: DOE)

Note from the editor
We are most grateful to our colleagues at the Hi-Tech Editorial Division for this informative article. We look forward to regularly publishing more of their exclusive contributions in the future - Editor 4ecotips.com