Date: 02/02/2022 Shift: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Q. No: 93

As the third largest emitter of carbon in the world, after China and the United States, India has a significant role to play in addressing the climate crisis. The country is already reeling from the devastating consequences of climate change, with extreme weather events like droughts and hurricanes becoming increasingly frequent and severe. In 2020, for example, Cyclone Amphan ravaged the states of West Bengal and Odisha, displacing millions from their homes and causing damage that cost billions of dollars.

At the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged that the country would become carbon-neutral by 2070, a target date 20 years later than the mark set by the United States and 10 years later than China’s—but still a big step forward for India. The country has committed to cutting its emissions per unit of GDP by 45 per cent between now and 2030. By then, India plans to ramp up its renewable energy capacity from 134 gigawatts today to 500 gigawatts, supplying half of its projected energy needs. If that plan succeeds it would be an extraordinary achievement.

The country already has created 42 solar parks around the country, including one spread over 14,000 acres of desert in Bhadla, Rajasthan, with a capacity over 2.2 gigawatts—the largest facility of its kind in the world. But India is also continuing to build coal-fired power plants that have decades-long lifetimes, signaling that the country expects to remain heavily reliant on coal for its energy needs for a long time to come.