FCC

India needs $10 trillion investment to hit net zero target

2022-12-28

India’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2070, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the UN Climate Summit COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, might be somewhat over-ambitious, according to experts, and would require a huge investment.

India is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the US. China has said that it plans to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2060, and the US along with the European Union (EU) aims to do so by 2050.

To achieve its target, India will have to move away from its heavy dependency on coal and a proper roadmap is required to achieve this, before moving towards the larger target.

According to a study, an investment of $10 trillion, starting from this year itself, would be needed to achieve the net zero target. And if the deadline is advanced to 2050, then the amount may go up to $13.5 trillion.

The economic benefits of India stepping up its transition to climate neutrality by 2070 are immense - boost of up to 4.7% per cent to the annual GDP by 2036 and creating some 15 million new jobs by 2047, according to a report by the High-Level Policy Commission on Getting Asia to Net Zero. The benefits are even greater if India reaches net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The report, titled ‘Getting India to Net Zero’, released in August this year, said that achieving the zero-emission target by 2070 would be worth $371 billion in financial terms.