'Opportune time for India to design energy efficient policies'

With rapid urbanisation, it is an opportune time for India to design new policies for achieving greater energy efficiency as two-thirds of the buildings that would be there in 2030 are yet to be built, the head of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) said today.
Director General TERI Ajay Mathur said industries across the world have an important role to play in the effort to meet country specific climate goals related to market-based mechanisms.
"In the context of rapid urbanisation, a timely opportunity awaits us to design new policies for achieving greater energy efficiency even as two-third of the buildings in 2030 are yet to be built," Mathur said.

He was speaking at an event titled 'Low carbon pathway for sustainable development' which was organised by the Indian Power Ministry at the ongoing climate change conference here.
Mathur placed focus on market-based mechanisms and carbon-pricing as powerful tools that governments and businesses are using across the globe to respond to climate change.
"While a regulatory framework and clear pricing signal by the government are key, industries across the world have an important role to play in the effort to meet country specific INDCs related to market-based mechanisms," he said.

"An example of this can be seen in the success of the LED programme in which the scale of procurement was used to drive pricing," Mathur said.

During the event, various stakeholder groups deliberated on the need for collective action to meet Individual Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and educating future generations to adopt climate-friendly lifestyles, creating access to low-cost finance and clean technology.
Emphasising the importance of political ownership to enable change, Mathur pointed to the success of the Perform Achieve Trade (PAT) scheme which looked at the operating conditions of the Indian industry critically, before setting-up the energy reduction targets.
As a result India, now, has the best energy efficient industrial plants in the world, he said.
TERI said India played a constructive and collaborative role towards reaching the Paris agreement and pledged a 33-35 per cent reduction in emissions intensity of GDP by 2030.

Towards this, the country has pledged to increase the share of renewable sources of energy, a major focus on energy efficiency, as well as a range of measures that decrease the environmental footprint of the nation's development roadmap, TERI added.