India will amend the Electricity Act and the Energy Conservation Act in order to achieve the efficiencies that it has pledged to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting here.
Tightening the use of energy across industry and other sectors would need rules under specific laws, and the government intends to do introduce these. The previous instance when India undertook a similar measure was for the Montreal Protocol when it issued the Ozone Rules to prevent the release of substances that affect the ozone layer, notably chlorofluorocarbons.
Explaining India’s approach to the Paris conference on Wednesday, the official spokesperson, Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, said ambitious targets on energy efficiency would have to be accompanied by rules and implementation.
Asked whether Indian investment in coal would reduce if Paris provided substantial funds, the spokesperson said “absolutely.” However, coal would continue to be used in the basket of energy options to provide balancing to make up for a dip in generation by renewables such as solar and wind. However, the national choice for growth would compulsorily have to been green, because even the best energy use performance in Europe by Denmark could not be India’s goal, due to the sheer per capita requirements of energy.
Saving certificates
India’s companies, particularly in the cement and steel sectors, have also been able to achieve globally reckoned energy efficiencies. Under the Perform, Achieve, Trade (PAT) scheme for industries that was in force until March 2015, trading of the energy savings certificates by those industries that achieved a surplus would start in January.
The second phase of the PAT scheme has set a target of covering more than 50 per cent of energy use.
The Indian group at CoP21 also released the results of an evaluation by the Carbon Disclosure Project for 20 select companies, the India Energy Efficiency report 2015, which showed that various actions in the areas of operational efficiency, smart and green buildings, energy efficient products and strategic initiatives produced massive savings. While Indian Oil Corporation cut 575,119 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and saved $140.3 million, Tata Steel achieved 1,031,340 tonnes CO2e emissions reduction and savings of $66 million.
“We have no ideological issues at the negotiations, and want trust and confidence,” Mr.Mathur told the media, and said India would continue to work for an equitable agreement for all countries and take the path that would confine global temperature rise to under 2 degrees Celsius.
