The Indian Parliament has passed the Energy Conservation Bill, which aims to promote the use of non-fossil energy sources such as green hydrogen, biomass, and ethanol, as well as carbon trading in the country.
R.K. Singh, India’s Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy, called the bill “futuristic” and said it would support India’s efforts to move to a greener economy. He said the new legislation will also expand the scope of India’s Energy Conservation Building Code, amend penalty provisions, add more members to the Governing Council of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and allow the Electricity Regulatory Commissions to make regulations.
The bill is crucial to sustainability goals, Singh said. “We don’t have any alternative,” he said. “This is the only planet that we have and we have to do our best to save it.” The Minister of Power also said other developed countries need to do more about climate targets as he sees “a lot of talk and [no] concrete action.”
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The opposition in India, however, saw flaws in the bill, and member of parliament P. Wilson said the new legislation had legal imperfections and required reconsideration and reintroduction.
“While the Energy Conservation Act of 2001 deals with saving energy, the present Bill deals with saving the environment and conserving climate change due to the usage of fossil and non-fossil fuels while generating electricity,” he said. “The scope and objective of the principal Act do not take in the purpose and object of the present Bill. The Bill relates to monitoring and controlling carbon emission and climate change which is an aspect of the environmental laws.”
India’s climate goals include reaching an emissions-intensity target of 45% below 2005 levels by the end of this decade and 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity coming from non-fossil sources by the same year.
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