Climate Change And Energy Policy

A damning United Nations report released in early April 2022 made clear that the clock is ticking for the world to tackle the effects of climate change. The U.N. declared when its report was released that “we are at a crossroads” on the path to Earth’s climate future and efforts need to be “scaled up” in an equitable way.

The 2022 Climate Change Performance Index, released following last November’s COP26 climate summit, analyzed the work 60 countries and the EU had done so far. The annual report – which was jointly developed by Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute, and the Climate Action Network – highlighted the nation’s foremost in the categories of greenhouse gas emissions, and renewable energy, in Each country’s performance was arbitrated and counted based on their energy consumption, national emission targets, and creation and attainment of policy goals. While the report’s authors expressed “hope for change,” they essentially left the first three positions of each category empty, citing that “no country performs well enough” to earn a high ranking. But some nations are making strides. energy efficiency and climate policy.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for keeping global warming below 2 °C, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) must be slashed to half by 2050 (compared to levels from 1990). Developed countries will have to reduce emissions from 80 % and 95 % by 2050; advanced developing countries with large emissions (e.g. China, India, and Brazil) will have to reduce their emission discharge.

Policies by EU

Climate change mitigation (GHG reduction)

Many European countries have undertaken national programs which aim at reducing emissions. Similar EU-level policies and actions include:

• Increased use of renewable energy (wind, solar, biomass) and combined heat and power installations.
• Improved energy efficiency in buildings, industry, and household appliances.
• Reduction of CO2 emissions from new passenger cars.
• Abatement measures in the manufacturing industry.
• Measures to reduce emissions from landfills.

The EU climate and energy package was approved in 2009 to implement the 20-20-20 targets endorsed by EU leaders in 2007 – by 2020 there had to be a 20 % reduction of GHG emissions compared to 1990, a 20 % share of renewables in EU energy consumption, and energy improvement by 20 %.

The legislation comprises four pieces.

1. Review and establishment of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) which is a single EU-extensive provider of emission allowances from 2013 onwards, with a linear annual reduction till 2020 and beyond; the advanced additional of free distribution of allowances by auctioning; and development of a system for new sectors and gases.
2. An “Effort Sharing Decision” for emissions from sectors not covered by the EU ETS, e.g., transport, housing, agriculture, and waste. Each Member State shall have to achieve a binding national emissions limitation target by 2020. Overall, these national targets were focused to cut the EU’s emissions from the non-ETS sectors by 10 % by 2020 compared with 2005 levels.
3. Binding national targets for renewable energy: This helped the EU to reduce dependence on traded energy as well as to topple GHG emissions.
4. A legal framework to endorse the expansion and safe usage of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Policies by India

The Government of India launched National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) on 30th June 2008 defining eight National Missions on climate change which include the following:

• National Solar Mission

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) was established on January 11, 2010, by then-Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, to achieve 20 GW of solar power by 2022, which was extended to 100 GW by that year under Prime Minister Modi’s tenure. By 2022, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) hopes to have installed 20 GW of solar power. The aim was raised from 20 GW to 100 GW by 2022 under Prime Minister Modi’s watch in the 2015 Union Budget of India. The Mission’s immediate goal is to focus on creating an enabling environment in the country for solar technology adoption, both centralized and decentralized. The first phase (which ran through March 2013) focused on promoting off-grid technologies, particularly hybrid systems, to meet/supplement electricity, heating, and cooling energy needs. Interventions are still needed to reduce costs, but the main problem is to offer an enabling framework and support for entrepreneurs to establish markets.

It is advocated that successful business concepts be supported to generate long-term investor interest. This plan is built on the principle of flexibility. The plan is entirely demand-driven since it provides a variety of incentive instruments from which eligible companies can create a package that suits their requirements and circumstances while staying within the scheme’s parameters. The national solar mission is presently in its third phase; the first phase ran from 2010 to 2014, the second phase ran from 2015 to 2017, and the third phase ran from 2018 to 2022. The first phase’s aim was 1.4 GW, the second phase’s target was 11–15 GW, and the third phase’s target is 22 GW, which will be achieved in 2022.

• National Mission on Sustainable Habitat

The Prime Minister’s Council for Climate Change established the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat in June 2010. India’s first National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was launched by the Prime Minister, addressing ongoing and prospective policies and initiatives targeting climate stabilization. The National Action Plan includes eight National Missions, one of which is the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat.

These Missions seek to encourage climate change awareness, adaptation, and mitigation, as well as clean energy and resource conservation.

Objectives of the Mission

• Extension of the energy conservation building code, which covers the creation of innovative and big commercial properties to optimize their power consumption; Advancement in energy-efficient buildings.
• Enhanced urban development and a directional transition to public transportation – develop long-term transportation strategies to help medium and small communities flourish while ensuring convenient and efficient public transportation.
• Advanced solid and liquid waste management, such as recycling and reuse and urban waste management – with a specific impact on the development of technologies for generating energy from garbage;
• Optimized habitats’ capacity to adapt to climate change by enhancing infrastructural robustness, community-based disaster preparedness, and initiatives to strengthen severe storms warning systems; and
• Changes in the legal and regulatory environment that promote conservation.

• National Water Mission

The National Water Mission is one of the eight National Missions formed by the Indian government as part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change. “Water conservation, waste minimization, and more equal distribution both between and within States through integrated water resources development and management” is the core goal of NWM.

The following are the five objectives set forward by NWM:

• Integrated public water data repository and evaluation of climate change’s influence on water resources
• Actions by citizens and governments to conserve, increase, and preserve water are encouraged.
• Organized effort in vulnerable regions, such as over-exploited areas,
• 20% increase in water usage efficiency, and
• basin-level integrative management of water resources.

• National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system

In June 2010, the National Mission for the Sustainment of the Himalayan Ecosystem was started. In 2014, the Union Government gave it formal permission. Hill agriculture is practiced by 51 million people in the Himalayan area, which is still fragile. The Himalayan environment is critical to the Indian subcontinent’s ecological security, and it is currently vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change. As a result, it is critical to safeguard the Himalayan ecology.

Objectives of National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem

• Through scientific research, determine the Himalayan ecosystem’s susceptibility in the short and long term owing to climate and weather variability.
• Based on the scientific investigation, develop policies to conserve the endangered ecology.
• To maintain the Himalayan ecology, states in the Himalayan area must implement programs in a timely way.

National Mission for a Green India

The Green India Mission (GIM), also known as the National Mission for a Green India, is one of the eight missions that make up the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). It was established in February 2014 to protect our country’s biological resources and connect livelihood opportunities from the dangers of climate change, as well as to recognize the critical role of forestry in environmental conservation, biodiversity, food, water, and sustainable livelihoods. It aims to maintain, restore, and enhance India’s dwindling forest cover, as well as respond to climate change through adaptation and mitigation strategies. It envisions a comprehensive approach to going green that extends past planting trees. GIM is concerned with a variety of ecosystem services, including biodiversity, water, biomass, the preservation of mangroves, wetlands, and key habitats, as well as carbon sequestration.

Objectives

• Increase forest or tree cover by 5 million hectares (MHA) and improve forest cover quality in another 5 million hectares of forest or non-forest areas. There are many sub-targets for different types of forests and ecosystems, such as grassland, thick forest, wetland, and so on.
• 1.5 million hectares of degraded fairly thick woods will be improved (ha).
• 3 million hectares of damaged open forests will be ecologically restored (ha)
• Restoration of grasslands — 0.4 million hectares
• 0.10 million hectares of wetlands are being restored.
• 1.8 million hectares of ecological restoration of shifting agriculture regions, mangroves, brush ravines, cold deserts, and abandoned mining sites, with several sub-targets.
• 0.20 million hectares of forest cover have been added to metropolitan areas and their fringes.
• Agroforestry has increased forest and tree cover on marginal agricultural fields/fallows and other non-forest lands by 3 million hectares.
• Raise the wages of nearly 3 million families all across these forest areas that rely on forest-based livelihoods.
• By 2020, increase carbon sequestration to between 50 and 60 million tonnes.
• National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture

The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) was launched in 2014-15 with the motive of achieving agricultural production more efficient, sustainable, profitable, and supporting sustainability by trying to promote location-specific incorporated farming methods, soil as well as moisture conservation efforts, detailed soil health management, water-saving practices, and growing acceptance rain – fed technologies. During 2014-15, one of the components of NMSA, On-Farm Water Management (OFWM), was set up to increase water productivity by helping promote technological interventions such as drip and sprinkler technologies, and efficient water application and distribution networks, secondary storage, and so on. Following that, from 2015-to 16, these efforts were absorbed into the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY’Per )’s Drop More Crop (PDMC)’ component.

The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) 2014-15 intends to boost agricultural output, particularly in rainfed regions, by concentrating on integrated farming, water efficiency, soil health management, and resource conservation synergies. As a result, it strives to increase the productivity, sustainability, remuneration, and climate resilience of agriculture by promoting:

• integrated agricultural methods tailored to a given locale
• Measures to conserve soil and moisture
• soil health management in its broadest sense
• Water management strategies that are effective

Objectives

• By supporting location-specific Integrated Farming Systems, we can make agriculture more productive, sustainable, profitable, and climate-resilient.
• Using suitable soil and moisture conservation strategies to protect natural resources.
• Implement good soil management techniques related to soil quality maps, soil test-based macroeconomic and micronutrient application, and fertiliser judicious usage.
• To maximize the use of water resources by improving water management and expanding coverage to achieve more crops per drop.
• To build farmers’ and stakeholders’ capacity in the domain of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, in conjunction with other ongoing Missions such as the National Mission on Agriculture Extension and Technology, the National Food Security Mission, the National Initiative for Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), and others.
• Improve rainfed farming production by mainstreaming NICRA-developed rainfed technology and utilizing resources from other programs such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Integrated Watershed Management Program (IWMP), RKVY, and others.

National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

One of the eight missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) is the National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change, which aims to connect knowledge acquisition institutions, increase capacity, and improve understanding of the relevant global events and dangers.

Objectives

The mission’s main purpose is to create a dynamic and vibrant knowledge system that informs and supports national policy and action to successfully respond to climate change concerns while maintaining the country’s growth ambitions. The mission’s primary goals are listed below:

• Through a proper regulatory framework and institutional support, knowledge networks are formed among existing knowledge institutions involved in climate science research and development, facilitating data sharing and exchange.
• Establishment of global technology watches groups with institutional capacity to conduct research on risk-averse technology selection for developmental purposes.
• Building national capability to predict the regional impact of climate change on diverse ecological zones within the country for various seasons and living conditions.
• Creating research networks and fostering study on the impacts of climate change on key economical sectors like agriculture, healthcare, ecosystems, wildlife, and coastal regions, among others.
• Formulation and enhancement of intellectual and technical foundations for establishing the long-term viability of development strategies in light of responsible climate change activities.

The Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology was delegated with the task of coordinating two out of the eight national missions on climate change. These are:

• National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) and
• National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC).

During COP26 India took a bold pledge of placing climate change at the center of its environmental policies with Prime Minister Narendra Modi declaring at the crucial international climate summit, that it is the only country distributing in “letter and spirit” the pledges taken under the Paris Agreement. He presented India and pledged to become a net-zero emitter of carbon by 2070 and to achieve 500 gigawatts of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, India led from the front on environmental issues this year. India also launched ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid’ (OSOWOG) at the conference to harness solar energy everyplace the sun is shining, to ensure that generated electricity flows to areas that need it most.