‘Carbon neutrality goal could create 15m new jobs’

INDIA's goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2070 could boost the country's annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 4.7 percent by 2036 and create 15 million new jobs by the time the country turns 100 in 2047, a report by Asia Society Policy Institute, a New York-based think tank has said.

The report released on Friday (26) by the institute's High-Level Policy Commission said that the said transition would require investments to the range of $10.1tn. The commission included the likes of former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, former United Nations general secretary Ban Ki-moon, Indian economist Dr Arvind Panagariya and Vivek Pathak, global head and director, climate business, International Finance Corporation.

The report also said that if India's net-zero goal is brought forward to 2050, the annual GDP gains could go as high as 7.3 per cent in another decade. The findings came on the basis of modelling research by UK-based consultancy Cambridge Econometrics and US-based global research non-profit World Resources Institute. The report came ahead of the COP27 meeting to be held in Egypt this November.