India needs to limit carbon emissions: G20 climate report

NEW DELHI: As the world's leading economies are directing trillions of dollars towards COVID-19 recovery packages, a significant proportion is going to fossil fuel industries without climate-related conditions, risking clean energy opportunities in the coming decade, a G20 climate performance report said on Wednesday.

India, it said, is not on track for a 1.5 degrees Celsius world. To be on track, India needs to limit its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to 4.597 MtCO2e by 2030 and below 3.389 MtCO2e by 2050.

India can do so by adopting a 'no new coal' policy as well as working on a plan to phase out coal by 2040.

India's average death rate per 1,000 due to air pollution is more than 1.7 to 18 times the G20 average.

These are among the key findings of the 2020 Climate Transparency Report, an annual collaboration between 14 think tanks, including TERI, and NGOs across G20 countries.

This year's report analyses G20 countries' performance across 100 indicators of climate adaptation, mitigation and finance, apart from emission impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and responses by their governments.

Year 2019 has seen a remarkable departure from the long-term growth trend in energy-related emissions and a stable expansion of renewables in the G20. But researchers caution that by providing unconditional support to fossil fuels, governments' recovery responses risk reversing, instead of locking in, positive pre-COVID trends. (IANS)

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