to slash emissions to zero. Instead, it refers to the process of compensating a country’s emissions by absorbing and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, through the use of futuristic technology. The significance of this is that a country would be able to become carbon-neutral at its current level of emissions or even by increasing this level, so long as they are absorbed and removed.
However, such measures are not so straightforward for countries like India, which continues to push for higher economic growth in order to pull out hundreds of millions of citizens from poverty. Studies have suggested that the South Asian nation is expected to grow at the fastest pace in the world over the next few decades. This means that no amount of reforestation could capture the increasing emissions, while most capturing and storage technologies are very expensive and sometimes unreliable.
Nevertheless, it would be incorrect to say that India has been turning a blind eye on the climate crisis, since the federal government has launched several efforts to strengthen its green energy sources, pushing the country to 4th place in the world in terms of installed Renewable Energy capacity.
These efforts by the South Asian nation were applauded by US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry, who participated in a recent summit which was hosted by the US-India Business Council. Pointing to reports which project that roughly half of the net-zero capabilities will come from emerging technologies, the climate envoy emphasised the need to scale up renewable technology to achieve a net-zero goal.
During his address Kerry noted how investments in India’s renewable energy sector was reporting a quick recovery to pre-pandemic levels, while emphasising the significance of the India-US Clean Hydrogen taskforce in harnessing emerging technologies.
India’s environment minister Bhupender Yadav was also among those who participated in the event. During his address, the minister emphasised on inclusive and sustainable action, as he underlined the principle that “no one should be left behind”.
