Gautam Adani pitches for balanced approach towards energy at COP28

India, he said, is also the only large nation ahead of its target in meeting its UNFCCC commitment to reduce its emissions intensity by 45% from the 2005 level by 2030

As world leaders dwell on the language of the final outcome of climate talks, billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday made a pitch for adopting a balanced approach that takes into account energy costs and availability while continuing to accelerate on green ambitions.

At the 28th UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, called COP28, 118 governments pledged to triple the world's renewable energy capacity by 2030 but have not been able to arrive at the language to be used in the outcome document for cutting the share of fossil fuels in the world's energy production.

"In the midst of initial encouraging signs from COP 28, it is relevant to remember that while in sum total (given our 1.4 billion population) we are the world's third largest primary energy consumer, our per capita electricity consumption @ 1250 kWh is still less than one-third of the global average and less than one-seventh of the developed world," Adani said in a post on X.

India, he said, is also the only large nation ahead of its target in meeting its UNFCCC commitment to reduce its emissions intensity by 45 per cent from the 2005 level by 2030.

"The fastest growing economy must balance its energy cost, energy availability and green energy objectives while continuing to accelerate its massive green ambitions," he added.

On his post, the coal-to-edible oil conglomerate he heads commented: "With a pledge of investing USD 75 billion by 2030, Adani group is playing a pivotal role in accomplishing this" task of reducing emission intensity.

To keep global warming from rising no more than 1.5 Celcius by 2050, fossil fuel use needs to be greatly reduced and unabated coal use needs to be completely phased out, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has argued. But India is not agreeable to phasing out of coal as 73 per cent of its current electricity is produced from burning the fossil fuel.

The share of coal-fired electricity generation in India's power mix is slated to rise to 77 per cent by 2025 after considering the projects already announced, before falling to 71 per cent in 2030 and 52 per cent in 2050 primarily because of the rise in share of renewable power.

An overnight shift away from coal, which is the cheapest available feedstock in India, to other sources such as natural gas or nuclear power will not just jack up electricity bills but also lead to supply issues as enough alternate fuels aren't available.

India is targeting installing 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Also it is looking at reducing the emissions intensity of its economy by 45 per cent and cutting a billion tonnes of CO2.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change wants oil use to be slashed by 60 per cent and natural gas demand by 45 per cent by 2050.