New Age tech can enable India achieve Net Zero goal, curb air pollution

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Reeling under frequent bouts of air pollution that may shorten an average Indian’s life expectancy by 5.3 years, there are New Age technologies that can be deployed in India to achieve the goal of ‘Net Zero’, demonstrating that the process of economic growth “need not come at the cost of our environment or indeed the health of our citizens”.

According to Chandra Bhushan, one of India’s foremost environment and climate change experts, technologies like electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, photovoltaic cells and hydrogen fuel, while reducing the dependence on fossil fuel energy, can help the country achieve decarbonisation and fight the menace of air pollution.

In an article written on the website of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, a German foundation and part of the green political movement, he emphasised that the barrier is neither technical nor cost, but policy priorities.

“But these policy challenges are a cause for action, not panic. No one expects us to reach Net Zero tomorrow. But the right policies need to be implemented now so that they can take full effect over 30 years,” he wrote.

The fossil fuel economy has delivered many benefits, including national development.

“Decarbonisation will bring some costs, especially for those who are dependent on fossil fuels for jobs and growth and those currently able to access cheap energy,” said Bhushan.

But there has been evidence for a while that this development is not well distributed and directed.

“For instance, the externalities of fossil fuel energy are disproportionately borne by the most vulnerable. Communities around coal mines and power plants are exposed to horrifying levels of air pollution, which in turn cause lung and heart disease,” he noted.

More Indians own cars today than 50 years ago, but our city air has become unbreathable.

A recent Lancet-published study puts a shocking number on "premature deaths and morbidity attributable to air pollution" -- $36.8 billion in economic losses to India (or 1.4 per cent of GDP) in 2019 alone.

To fulfil the obligations under the Paris Agreement, in November 2021 at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged that India would reach net zero emissions by 2070 and meet 50 per cent of its electricity requirements from renewable sources by the year 2030.

This is possible with the right and timely use of available technologies.

“The past two decades have seen a revolution in renewable energy technologies -- solar costs have fallen 90 per cent over the past decade. Building new solar power in India is now cheaper than building a new coal plant, and is quickly becoming cheaper than running existing coal plants,” said Bhushan.

While renewable energy needs electricity storage to be as reliable as coal power, Moody's projects that wind and solar, including storage cost, will be competitive with coal in India in 2025.

Another turning point is the battery/storage revolution coming to India, which could drop costs by 60 per cent in the next decade.

“This is a continuation of the global trend, which has seen Li-ion batteries become 97 per cent cheaper since 1991, with further room to drop. In addition to making electricity generation cheaper, the battery revolution would drop the cost of electric transportation in India,” the expert emphasised.

In about five years, EVs are estimated to account for 15 per cent of India's scooter market, with the share doubling in about 10 years.

“The savings on fuel imports for transportation will be immense -- $2.5 trillion by 2047 if the government's (admittedly ambitious) targets are met. Investment in the battery producing capacity of the Indian industry can further generate huge income for the country,” said Bhushan.

Likewise, green hydrogen, the key to decarbonising heavy industries, is at a tipping point. With cheaper renewable energy, green hydrogen is now a reality.

“Crucial to remember is that even if India lacks certain technologies, for instance that used in creating commercially viable sodium ion batteries (SIBs), the Paris Agreement can be leveraged for technology transfer, and countries have started to cooperate on technology development,” Bhushan said.

India is actually in a position where it can act as a leader in climate action and pave the way for the development that follows an alternative model to that of the industrialised western world, he added.