Centre to revamp energy mission to go beyond Paris treaty goals
The Centre is set to revamp a national energy efficiency mission started by the UPA to meet 40% of energy needs from renewable sources by 2030, as promised at the Paris climate treaty.
A new framework for revamping the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE) is being drawn by the Niti Aayog, and it will have policy and regulatory interventions to go beyond the Paris deal goals without compromising on the dependence on high carbon-emitting coal.
At the recent G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had re-affirmed that India will go “above and beyond” the Paris climate deal, after United States President Donald Trump walked out of the 2015 Paris treaty.
The mission will promote production of energy efficient electric and hybrid vehicles and appliances through the government’s Make in India programme.
Renewable Goals
The draft policy unveiled by the Niti Aayog last month said 57-66% of India’s energy generation by 2040 would be from renewable sources, primarily wind, solar and big hydro.
For this, the think tank had suggested a national mission on clean cooking, allowing people to opt for renewable energy instead of thermal, renewable energy management (REM) centres in each state, lower tariff for night-charging of electric vehicles and creating a national renewable grid.
Key Tasks
Noting that the UPA’s NMEEE was not able to achieve its intended goals due to poor inter-sectoral linkages, the Aayog said the revamped mission will look into technology development and financial incentives in collaboration with the industry.
“A revamped National Mission would be launched which would have stronger linkage than before between the related sectors, and provide for a robust supervisory and review mechanism,” the Aayog said.
Officials said the mission will work on four broad components — right implementation strategy, regulatory mechanism, intervention/incentive tools and robust review mechanism.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, which introduced star energy efficiency labelling for appliances, will be the nodal body for the mission.
Efficient Vehicles
The Aayog has found potential in the automobile sector, especially small cars and cargo vehicles, despite no tax holiday under the GST.
The government has imposed 12% tax on electric vehicles and 15% for hybrid vehicles as compared to 28% on fossil fuel vehicles. The automobile industry had termed the slab as disincentive for research and development in cleaner fuels.
The Aayog, however, suggested incentives, including depreciated taxation for manufacturing of green fuel vehicles in India as International Energy Agency has projected that by 2030 half of the new vehicles sold in the world would be electric and hybrid.
“We should have most cost-effective technologies in the next five to seven years,” an official said.
Source: hindustantimes
