India demands environment-friendly technology to be made available at affordable prices to battle climate change

• Union Minister Prakash Javadekar insists that lower carbon emissions will only be possible if the right technology is available at the right place and at the right time.
• He highlighted that the success of the Montreal Plan was partly because it provided compensation for any additional expenditure to mitigate the effects of climate change.
• “India is walking the talk. India is two degrees compliant in actions and in contributions. And, therefore, we’re asking world leaders and other countries that they should also walk the talk and they should also be compliant with the Paris Agreement,” said Javadekar.
  

India is on track to meet its contributions to the Paris Agreement as one of the 195 signatories who have promised to keep the global rise in temperature below 2 degrees Celcius before 2100.

However, environment-friendly technology comes at a cost. If it's not affordable, it acts as a barrier to preventing climate change as countries like India endeavour to become green economies, according to Union Minister Prakash Javadekar.

“I am demanding that technology must be available at an affordable cost. Less emissions will only be possible if the technology is available at the right place,” he said at the India CEO Forum on Climate Change.

The cost of development
India may be among the top five carbon emitters on the planet, but that’s mostly due to its sheer size. Its per capita emissions are only around 1.8 tonnes a year — less than half of the world average.

Even historically, India's average emissions were around 3%. Today, the emission load stands at around 6%.

Javadekar argues that since every person on the globe has the right to development and that any kind of development will have emissions. So, for India, as a developing country emissions are inevitable if it wants to grow.

Citing the Montreal Plan as an example, he highlighted how it provided complete compensation for any additional expenditure.

“In a thermal power plant if we want to induct FGD technology, it costs ₹50 lakh per MW. It’s a huge cost for a 600 MW generating unit… Cost is a big barrier in making advances,” Javadekar said.

Battling climate change
Right now, India’s plans to battle climate change include reducing emissions intensity by 50%, restoring around 26 million hectares of land over the next ten years, building 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy, and 157 GW of renewable energy by 2022.

To top it off, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently added the goal of 450 GW of renewable energy generation by 2030 — this will account for a little than 40% of India’s installed capacity.

“India is walking the talk. India is two degrees compliant in actions and in contributions. And, therefore, we’re asking world leaders and other countries that they should also walk the talk and they should also be compliant with the Paris Agreement,” said Javadekar.

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