At COP 27, India submitted its Long-Term Low Emission Development (LT-LEDS) Strategy to the UNFCCC.
Launched by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, the strategy included India’s approach to the Low Emission Development Strategy. The features of the strategy say that:
- The focus will be on the rational utilization of national resources with due regard to energy security.
- The National Hydrogen Mission launched in 2021 aims to make India a green hydrogen hub. Increasing electrolyzer manufacturing capacity in the country, and a three-fold increase in nuclear capacity by 2032 are some of the other milestones that India aims to achieve in the power sector in the coming years.
- Increased use of biofuels, EV production, and hydrogen fuel is expected to light the spark for the low-carbon development of the transport sector. India aspires to maximize the use of electric vehicles, ethanol blending to reach 20% by 2025, and a strong modal shift to public transport for passengers and freight.
- Future sustainable and climate-resilient urban development will be driven by smart city initiatives, integrated planning of cities for mainstreaming adaptation and enhancing energy and resource efficiency, effective green building codes, and rapid developments in innovative solid and liquid waste management.
- On the lines of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and
- ‘Make in India’, India’s industrial sector will continue on a strong growth path. The focus will be on improving energy efficiency through the Perform, Achieve, and Trade (PAT) scheme, National Hydrogen Mission, high level of electrification in all relevant processes and activities, enhancing material efficiency and recycling leading to expansion of the circular economy, and exploring options for hard-to-abate sectors, such as steel, cement, aluminum, and others.
- India is on track to fulfilling its NDC commitment of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of additional carbon sequestration in forest and tree cover by 2030.
- The transition to the low-carbon development pathway will entail several costs pertaining to the development of new technologies, new infrastructure, and other transaction costs. While several estimates exist, varying across studies, they all fall generally in the range of trillions of dollars by 2050. The provision of climate finance by developed countries will play a very significant role and needs to be considerably enhanced, in the form of grants and concessional loans, ensuring scale, scope, and speed, predominantly from public sources, in accordance with the principles of the UNFCCC.
India’s approach is based on the following four key considerations:
- India has contributed little to global warming, despite having a share of ~17% of the world’s population.
- India has significant energy needs for development.
- India is committed to pursuing low-carbon strategies for development and is actively pursuing them, as per national circumstances.
- India needs to build climate resilience.
The LT-LEDS has been prepared in the framework of India’s right to an equitable and fair share of the global carbon budget, which is the practical implementation of India’s call for “climate justice.”?
This has been done so as to ensure that there are no constraints on realizing India’s vision of rapid growth and economic transformation while protecting the environment.
