News Highlights:
- Global CO2 emissions: According to a new analysis by the International Energy Agency(IEA), Global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rose by under one per cent in 2022.
- The IEA report, titled CO2 Emissions in 2022, called for stronger actions to accelerate the clean energy transition and move the world onto a path towards meeting its energy and climate goals.
Highlights of the IEA report:
- Important findings:
- According to the report, Global energy-related CO2 emissions grew in 2022 by 0.9 per cent, or 321 million tonnes, reaching a new high of more than 36.8 billion tonnes.
- The rise in emissions last year was far smaller than the exceptional jump of over 6% in 2021.
- Extreme weather events, including droughts and heatwaves, as well as an unusually large number of nuclear power plants being offline, contributed to the rise in emissions.
- 550 million tonnes of emissions were avoided by increased deployment of clean energy technologies.
- Region-specific findings:
- China’s emissions were broadly flat in 2022 due to strict Covid-19 measures.
- The EU emissions fell by 2.5%, due to the record deployment of renewables and energy savings measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also contributed.
- In the US, emissions grew by 0.8% as buildings increased their energy consumption to cope with extreme temperatures.
- Excluding China, emissions from Asia’s emerging and developing economies increased by 4.2%, reflecting their rapid economic and energy demand growth.
- Fuel-based CO2 emissions:
- CO2 emissions from coal grew by 1.6% as the global energy crisis continued to spur a wave of gas-to-coal switching in Asia.
- The increase in coal emissions balanced the 1.6% decline in emissions from natural gas as supplies were limited by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- CO2 emissions from oil grew by 2.5% (came mainly from the aviation sector) but still remained below pre-pandemic levels.
Steps taken by India to Achieve Net-Zero Emissions:
- India’s Renewable Energy Targets:
- India’s renewable energy targets have steadily become more ambitious, from 175 GW by 2022, declared at Paris, to 450 GW by 2030 at the UN Climate Summit, and now 500 GW by 2030, announced at COP26.
- India has also announced the target of 50% installed power generation capacity from non-fossil energy sources by 2030, raising the existing target of 40%, which has already been almost achieved.
- National Hydrogen Mission:
- India launched the National Hydrogen Mission in 2021, which is expected to spearhead India towards the status of becoming a hydrogen exporter in the world.
- Though India was the net importer of crude oil, it will become the exporter of green hydrogen.
- One of the biggest advantages of green hydrogen is that it reduces the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere thus contributing to reducing the greenhouse effect.
- Ethanol blending programme:
- India has also come out with ethanol blending targets. India has enumerated that it would achieve 20% ethanol blending with petroleum by 2025
- Promotion of electric vehicles:
- Another important step in this regard is the promotion of electric vehicles through FAME India schemes.
- According to the NITI Aayog vision document, 30% of the total vehicles on Indian roads by 2030 will be Electric Vehicles.
- Electricity’s share in industrial energy will have to multiply three-fold by 2070.
- Electricity-driven four-wheelers should constitute 70-80 per cent of the road traffic.
- This would help in reducing overall vehicular pollution in the country.
- New vehicle scrappage policy:
- The new vehicle scrappage policy incentivises consumers to sell their old vehicles, which are more polluting and replace them with electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles.
- Carbon Storage and Capturing (CCS):
- India has also laid much importance upon Carbon Storage and Capturing (CCS) to remove GHGs before they enter the atmosphere. Currently, this technology is very expensive and complex.
- So there is a need to make an effort to enable the transfer of technology (ToT) in this domain.
Pic Courtesy: Freepik
Content Source: Down To Earth