But Environment Secretary RPGGupta said India was a “victim” of global warming, and was “not a contributor”. He told reporters that declaring net zero is not a solution to the climate crisis.
“How much carbon you’re going to put into the atmosphere before you reach net zero is more important,” he said. global temperature.
The United States, Britain and the European Union have set a target date of 2050 for reaching net zero, by which point they will only be emitting an amount of greenhouse gases that can be controlled by forests, crops, soil and stable-fetal carbon capture technology. can be absorbed. .
Critics say both China and Saudi Arabia have set targets for 2060, but without concrete action now they are largely meaningless.
Gupta cited the Indian government’s calculations that between now and the middle of the century the United States will release 92 gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere and 62 gigatons to the European Union. He said China would have added a staggering 450 gigatonnes by the date of its net zero target.
Delegates from nearly 200 countries will meet in Glasgow, Scotland, from 31 October to 12 November for climate talks to strengthen action to tackle global warming under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Officials say that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the conference in a sign that the country is taking climate change seriously. Chinese President Xi Jinping is not expected.
While working towards net zero, countries are expected to announce new and stronger intermediate targets to cut emissions.
Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav said India is on track to achieve the targets set in the 2015 Paris conference and has left the door open to revise them. “All options are on the table,” he said.
India has committed to reduce the emission intensity of its GDP by 33% by 2030 from 2005 levels by 35%, achieving a reduction of 24% by 2016.
Some environmental experts say India may consider reducing its emissions intensity by 40 per cent dependent on finances and whether it has access to new technologies.
Yadav said he would measure the success of the Glasgow conference by how much it contributed to climate finance to help developing countries cut their emissions while ensuring economic growth.
“We can’t do it on our own because we need to think about our economy as well,” he said.
But Yadav made it clear that there will be no more pressure on India to cut emissions when developed nations are not meeting their own climate targets.
Coal is the dirtiest form of energy and scientists say phasing out coal use is the key to tackling the climate crisis. But more than 70% of India’s electricity is still generated from coal-fired thermal power plants.
Yadav said it was not appropriate for India to cut coal production drastically and “even developed countries are taking time to exit coal and gas sectors.”
Even as India’s growing energy needs to accommodate its 1.3 billion population, Environment Secretary Gupta said, “the share of energy from coal and installed capacity in percentage terms will continue to decline.”
Gupta said this will, in part, come from retiring and deactivating old and inefficient power plants, even as new ones are being built.
“It is not good to impose a regional agenda. We (call on coal production) will do it at our own pace,” he said.
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