‘India cut dependence on fossil fuel industry by 4% among G20 states’
India reduced support to the fossil fuel industry by 4% from 2015 to 2019 even as the countries in the G20 forum of the world’s major economies are not walking the talk in addressing the climate crisis, said a new report by Bloombergnef, a global research organisation, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, released on Tuesday. The G20 countries provided $636 billion in direct support for fossil fuels in 2019, which is just 10% less than that in 2015, it added.
The report noted that India has reduced the support, but it has 66 coal power plants in the pipeline. India is second only to China, which has 247 coal power plants in the making among G20 countries. Most G20 countries have announced ambitious climate targets to reach the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. But the report said they provided $3.3 trillion support for coal, oil, gas, and fossil-fuel power between 2015 and 2019. It added the sum could have funded 4,232GW new solar power plants or over 3.5 times the current US electricity grid.
The G20, as a whole, has cut fossil fuel funding by 10% during 2015–19. But there are significant variations across countries. Eight
NEW DELHI:
countries of the forum--australia, Canada, the US, Brazil, France, Indonesia, Mexico and China--increased their support to the fossil fuel industry.
“This support encourages the (potentially wasteful) use and production of fossil fuels. It can also distort prices and risks carbon ‘lock-in’— whereby assets funded today will be around for decades, locking in high levels of future emissions. All of these factors hinder the climate transition,” the report said.
In a statement, Günther Thallinger, a member of the Board of Management of Allianz SE and chair of the UN convened Net-zero Asset Owner Alliance, said as of today policy frameworks across most G20 countries are not sufficient to drive a real economy to net zero transition to achieve the 1.5 degree Celsius goal with reasonamajority ble likelihood. “The new NDCS (nationally determined contributions) and 2050 net zero targets from some G20 countries are warmly welcome, however pledges and targets alone will not be sufficient to change course. The development and publication of credible 2030 emission reduction plans, which create a rising price on carbon and have clear regulatory standards, including on climate-related financial disclosures are urgently needed.”
“G20 is a very diverse group of countries... For developing countries in the G20, such as India, the imminent drying up of coal finance and the EU’S new carbon tax on imports are serious signs that our industry needs to prepare to shift to low carbon technologies...,” said Ulka Kelkar, director of the climate programme at the World Resources Institute, India.