India power emissions must peak by 2026 to meet Paris pact
net zero by the middle of the century and align itself with the Paris Agreement, according to BloombergNEF, a target that’s unlikely to be met due to the government’s push for the continued use of coal.
The world’s third-biggest emitter needs $12.4 trillion in investment to reach net zero ahead of its official target of 2070, BNEF said in its New Energy Outlook for India published Thursday. That includes funding to accelerate clean energy deployment, large-scale adoption of electric vehicles, and scaling up new technologies like carbon capture and green hydrogen to decarbonize the coal-dependent economy.
The report comes as India expands renewables but remains heavily reliant on coal to meet the power needs of the world’s largest population, prompting calls for it to be more ambitious in weaning itself off the dirtiest fossil fuel to support the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 2C (3.6F).
New Delhi has announced a fresh pipeline of coal power projects and pushed old polluting facilities to defer phase-outs until 2030, citing the fuel’s importance for energy security, at least until clean solutions become affordable for round-the-clock supply.
“It seemed evident until a couple of years ago that India’s power sector emissions will peak around 2026, but the government’s fresh push for coal power has delayed that target,” said Sunil Dahiya, a New Delhi-based analyst with Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. “But we still remain hopeful that the emissions will peak before 2030.”
