A lecture on ‘Energy and Climate Change’ was delivered by Dr P. C. Maithani, Adviser, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Dr. Maithani shared how reliance on muscle power and traditional biomass was replaced mostly by fossil fuels before and how natural gas, hydro and nuclear energy have increased now. “The share of renewable energy is growing in the global energy mix,” said Dr. Maithani. The growth of energy related figures have grown significantly in the last 3 decades in the green-house gas emissions with discharges from fossil fuels being the primary contributors. India signed the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016 that also talked of the action countries have to take to regulate the emissions as per the set standards and keep the rise of temperature under control.
He also talked about the global energy system faces a dual challenge: the need for ‘more energy and less carbon’. Climate change issues are deciding the source of energy and renewable energy development in India has been aided by strong policy and regulatory backing shared Dr. Maithani. Speaking about India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – Post 2020 actions, Dr. Naithani stated that the three quantitative goals include – To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level; to achieve 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 and to create and additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and three cover by 2030. “Climate change is a global commons problem that requires international cooperation and coordination across scales. It is also a challenge of renewable energy technology development and creating a conducive policy regime for its speedier deployment,” said Dr. Naithani.