To help India meet its climate targets agreed upon in Paris, the Indian industry will need to meet their obligations to move towards a low-carbon economy even as they capitalise on new business opportunities, the government said on Wednesday.
“There are huge opportunities in renewables across generation, evacuation, storage as well as energy energy management systems to bring it at par with conventional fuels. The challenge lies in finding off grid solutions and fully integrating renewables into India’s fuel mix,” said Ashok Lavasa, secretary, ministry of environment, forest and climate change, in a statement.
Lavasa was speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry conference on ‘Roadmap to a Low Carbon Economy’ here on Wednesday.
“It is equally a question of opportunities and obligations for the industry,” he said.
The challenge facing the nations at the 21st Conference of Parties (CoP-21) in Paris, was to formulate an agreement which would allow the development process to continue while moving towards a low carbon future, the ministry official said.
He added that it was important for the industry to seize opportunities and meet obligations to move towards a low-carbon economy, as they play a crucial role in meeting the goals set by India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) in Paris.
He also said the ministry was considering a policy to encourage industry to participate in afforestation projects.
“An aspect of moving towards a low carbon economy is to approach energy conservation and recycling by looking at waste as a resource. We need to set systems to segregate waste at source,” Lavasa said, regarding the waste management in the country.