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Indian government pledging 350 billion rupees to transition its economy to green energy production

India’s plan to transition its economy to green energy production was heavily targeted in this year’s state budget, with the government pledging 350 billion rupees ($4.25 billion) to help with the transition. Climate policy scientists say the funding is a welcome first step, but that it must be followed by long-term commitments.

In November 2021, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a goal for his country, the world’s third-largest producer of greenhouse gases, to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. Indian policy analysts applauded the goal, but said it was unclear how the country would implement the sharp emissions cuts needed to achieve it.

The budget indicates that India is serious about mitigating climate change, says climate scientist Jayaraman Srinivasan of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. “However, to reach the net zero target by 2070, the transition from coal, oil and gas to renewables will require many decades of consistent policy,” he says. Senior government scientists say the announcement will also help set the country’s future research agenda.

Green hydrogen: 19.7 billion rupees to make India a global hub

Presenting the annual budget in the country’s parliament on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is implementing programs to decarbonise many industries, including energy, agriculture and construction. It has committed 19.7 billion rupees to make India a global hub for the production and exporter of “green hydrogen” – which is produced from renewable energy sources to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, rather than from fossil fuels. The hydrogen can then be used as a fuel in other carbon intensive industries such as cement and steel.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will receive 10.22 billion rupees, a 48% increase over last year’s budget. However, funding for the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, which oversees key adaptation and mitigation programmes, is stagnant at around 30 billion rupees in 2022-23.

Tiju Thomas, a materials engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, says increasing the country’s production of low-emission hydrogen will require synergy between policy-making, industry and research. “The time is right for India to up its game in energy transition,” says Thomas.

But the country also needs to increase its energy storage capacity to use other forms of renewable energy, such as solar and wind, which are not always available, Srinivasan points out.

India is already facing the onslaught of climate change. The first national assessment1 of climate change found that the average temperature rose by around 0.7°C between 1901 and 2018. And the country experienced an extreme event almost every day in 2022 according to an analysis published in November by the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi. The most frequent events were heavy rains, floods and landslides. In addition, climate change and population growth will reduce water availability.

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