India’s Energy-Environment Catch-22
The DiplomatRani, a domestic worker in New Delhi, travels 10-15 kilometers every day from her cramped urban slum in Goyla Dairy, Najafgarh, to high rise buildings in Dwarka. While India plans to reach carbon neutral status by 2070, extreme weather events like the recent heatwaves keep pushing India’s energy sector to depend on traditional coal in the absence of enough renewable energy. “There is no doubt that the demand of energy in India has increased during this period of heatwaves,” said Harjeet Singh, a senior adviser with Climate Action Network International. Sandeep Pai, senior research lead with the Just Transition Initiative, a collaborative project between the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Climate Investment Funds said, “For a country like India, air conditioners should become a human rights issue.” Reports from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have warned that global temperatures will increase by 1.5 degrees in the next few decades, accompanied by frequent heatwaves, dry spells, cyclones, and other extreme weather events. To make sure that India’s future energy needs are met without any compromise with its environment, and to reduce its dependence on coal, Garg from IEEFA said, “We should increase the deployment of renewables at a quicker rate.” The Risks of a Quick Renewable Expansion India aims to reach 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022, and set a goal of expanding that to 500 GW by 2030.