India's sectoral policies not consistent with Paris Climate Agreement

India's sectoral policies were still falling short of being consistent with the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, but the country's ambitious policy on renewable electricity was a promising sign, a report said.

Based on implemented policies, India's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were expected to increase to a level of 4,469 to 4,570 MtCO2e by 2030, excluding forestry, the Climate Transparency that partners with TERI in India, said in the report "2018 Brown to Green" released on Wednesday.

This emission pathway was not compatible with a 2 degrees Celsius scenario.

However, India's nationally determined contribution is already compatible with a global scenario to limit warming to below 2 degrees, but not to the 1.5 degrees Paris Agreement limit, it warned.

The report provides the most comprehensive overview of the climate actions undertaken in G20 countries.

Through key indicators, and in a concise way, it indicates how well India has advanced in emissions, policy performance, finance and decarbonization compared to its peers.
 

The report has been developed by a group of experts from Australia, Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Britain.

It's the most relevant analysis of the efforts being done in G20 countries to decarbonize their economies and push forward a climate agenda through a comparison of each country's performance indicators.

The report said 82 per cent of the G20's energy supply still comes from fossil fuels.

In Saudi Arabia, Australia and Japan fossil fuels make up even more than 90 per cent of the energy supply, with little or no change in recent years.

The 20 major economies play a key role for achieving the Paris targets because they alone account for 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

"The recent IPCC 1.5 degrees Celsius report showed us the world needs to ramp up action on climate change. Power generation from coal, oil and gas, and transport produce the biggest chunk of emissions in the vast majority of G20 countries," said one of the report's co-authors Jiang Kejun of the Energy Research Institute in China.
 

"No G20 government is really getting a grip on these sectors, especially Australia, the United States, Russia and Indonesia, who are all lagging behind. But some countries are already moving ahead, like the UK or France with their decision to quickly phase out coal and fossil fuel-based cars."

The recent developments by India in the context of renewables, the report said: "India has rowed back from commitments to sell 100 per cent electronic vehicles (EVs) by 2030, and now targets a more moderate pace of development. Nonetheless, new EV support policies are being considered."

India's National Electricity Plan envisages reaching 47 per cent capacity from non-fossil sources by 2027, reaching the nationally determined contribution target ahead of schedule.

According to the India Cooling Action Plan draft, there is plan to cut cooling demand by 20 to 25 per cent by 2037, thus curbing a source of huge growth in electricity demand.