Decarbonising India: A journey to be achieved by progressive collaboration of all the stakeholders

India is one of the fastest-growing economies standing right there at the sixth position in the list of the biggest economies in the world. With the size of the economy the country is possessed with, there come several responsibilities with it. Rapid economic growth, most of the times are based on high energy demand which is directly proportional to the higher carbon dioxide emissions.

Moreover, India is among the few major carbon polluters in the world that are signatories of the Paris Agreement. Under the agreement, India is committed to reducing carbon emissions intensity by 33% to 35% below the 2005 levels by 2030. India is also committed to achieving at least 40% of its electricity production through non-fossil sources by 2030.

At the time when the government is trying hard to decarbonise India, our corporates are also working together with the government to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they produce during their operations. Also, the companies are vowing to increase their use of renewable energy and making their operations more efficient and consume less power.

Dalmia Cement and Mahindra & Mahindra recently announced to go carbon negative by 2040. In September, Infosys received United Nations Global Climate Action Award in the ‘Climate Neutral Now’ category. At the same time, the Kerala government launched the Carbon Neutral Wayanad project to ensure Indian states were on par with the international sustainability standards.

While the corporates are planning to go carbon neutral by implementing different sustainable techniques such as to rely more on renewable energy, the Indian state governments are focusing on conserving the traditional crop varieties to banning plastic, the state and corporate partnership are working hard to achieve the aim to preserve our environment.

Besides, several NGOs are extraordinarily working hard in the direction of achieving their planned environment goals. Organisations like the Indian Environment Society are running initiatives such as Save Himalaya Campaign. The campaign runs around understanding the ecosystem of the Himalayas and developing a policy to sustain their environment.

Whatever is done by the government, corporates and other organisations are appreciable, but it is only a step towards walking a million steps in a direction to reach the destination. Structural planning and implementation are what it is required to facilitate India’s decarbonization to achieve the set goals.