Five-yr plans back at Niti Aayog to cut emissions

Five-year plans that made an unceremonious exit nearly a decade ago are making a quiet comeback, this time to handhold India's decarbonization journey.

- Puja Das

The government's road map to a green future till 2070 will cover a dozen sectors including energy, power, highways, and industries such as steel, cement, iron and aluminium, two people familiar with the matter said. And charting five-year plans for the transition is Niti Aayog, the very entity that replaced the erstwhile Planning Commission.

Once the roadmap is ready, sector-specific ministries will decide on policies after securing necessary cabinet approval, the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity.

"Niti Aayog is helping to define how the country needs to transition, how the power sector should look like, how much solar and wind capacity is required, how the industry needs to transition and which technologies are required, among others," said one of the two people, who is part of climate finance group of the finance ministry. "But economics does not work beyond the headlines," the person said, explaining why the think tank has been tasked with the study.