Govt to raise energy efficiency targets for industry

Environment secretary says the ministry will reveal India’s ambitious plan to address climate change by the end of August 

 

13
inShare

A file photo of environment secretary Ashok Lavasa. Photo: PIB

New Delhi: India is raising energy efficiency targets for the industry, environment secretary Ashok Lavasa said on Tuesday, adding his ministry will reveal the country’s ambitious plan to address climate change by the end of August.

By September end, around 196 countries will announce their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) which would form the basis of the December Paris summit aimed at striking a new global climate deal. INDCs are a set of voluntary actions that each country will announce to address the issue of climate change. It could range from cutting down reliance on fossil fuel and encouraging renewable energy to enhancing energy efficiency of industries.

“The NMEEE (National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency) is being revised and expanded to cover new large industry sectors as well as enhance targets. Other new missions are also being finalised under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC),” Lavasa said. He was speaking at the ‘Industry Consultation on India’s INDCs for Climate Change’ in Delhi, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Lavasa’s announcement is in line with the decisions taken at the meeting of the Prime Minister’s council on climate change earlier this year, where the decision to enhance national missions under the NAPCC was taken.

“The pre-2020 actions on mitigation and finance are important and need to be enhanced. India is looking for clean coal technologies as well as coal is going to be a source of power for India in coming years,” said Lavasa.

The environment secretary also said that out of the 45-odd INDCs submitted so far to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), studies showed that the “numbers offered by the developed countries are not ambitious enough though the developing countries are showing innovation in the way they present their contributions.”

Meanwhile, even as India prepares its INDCs in consultation with all stakeholders including industry, environment, minister Prakash Javadekar is set to attend the two-day meeting of the Major Economies’ Forum on climate change starting 18 July to be held at Luxembourg and an informal meeting of around 40 ministers organized by the French government later this year before the December summit.

Joint secretary (climate change) R.S. Prasad, who was also present at the function, said India is likely to submit its INDCs in about a month and half.

“The second cycle of the PAT scheme under NMEEE is being finalised. The sectors covered under NMEEE and the targets for industries will be revised in the second cycle. The INDCs will cover not just mitigation but also adaptation. The Indian INDCs is expected to cover all areas and not just mitigation (reduction of emissions), such as adaptation, climate finance, technology and capacity building needs of the country,” Prasad said.

Indian government had notified energy efficiency targets for 478 industrial units under the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme which is part of the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency.

PAT scheme is a mechanism to accelerate as well as incentivize energy efficiency in the large energy-intensive industries. The scheme provides the option to trade any additional certified energy savings with other designated consumers to comply with the Specific Energy Consumption reduction targets. One of the new sectors that could be added to PAT scheme is the railways.

Prasad also said the government is compiling a list of technologies that would be needed for India to enhance its contributions to climate change during 2020-30.