A Double Engine Journey towards Being Carbon Neutral in 2050

Even as the share of renewable energy continues to rise in India, pollution continues to worsen

- Sudhir Mishra & Simran Gupta

DESPITE THE MARKET TURBULENCE brought on by the coronavirus pandemic over the last two years, India has managed to meet its self-set goal at the COP21 (Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change) summit in Paris in 2015 – nine years ahead of schedule.

Our country set an overwhelming target for itself, committing to achieve 40 per cent of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil energy sources by 2030. It vindicated its commitment by achieving the target by November 2021, way ahead of the self-imposed deadline. This miracle has been achieved as part of India’s quest for climate reversal and through the “double engine” effort of record installations of solar and wind energy across the country.

Sustainability being the key driver, the world is now witnessing a major shift to clean energy technologies. Owing to the limited availability of fossil fuels and their adverse impact on the environment, a transition to renewable energy is highly essential for our planet.

What responsible governments across the world need to do further for a dramatic reversal of damages to the climate is commit an additional two per cent of the global GDP to technologies such as solar and wind power. The outcome would be a carbon neutral world economy by 2050.

India today ranks fourth globally in terms of its installed renewable energy capacity, having crossed the milestone of a 100 GW capacity. It ranks fifth in terms of solar power capacity and fourth in wind energy, according to the Union Ministry of Power.