As I wrote on Wednesday, the Paris climate change conference (COP21) is now in full swing. If it results in a binding global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we’ll see winners and losers as governments around the world initiate or intensify policies to execute the plan. As an example of what might occur, take India, the world’s second-largest country by population and the seventh-largest economy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to reduce emissions by 35% of 2005 levels and raise the percentage of its power generation that comes from non-fossil fuels to 40%. That will mean quadrupling its… Read More
As I wrote on Wednesday, the Paris climate change conference (COP21) is now in full swing. If it results in a binding global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we’ll see winners and losers as governments around the world initiate or intensify policies to execute the plan. As an example of what might occur, take India, the world’s second-largest country by population and the seventh-largest economy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to reduce emissions by 35% of 2005 levels and raise the percentage of its power generation that comes from non-fossil fuels to 40%. That will mean quadrupling its capacity of renewable energy generation by 2022, to 175 gigawatts. (By comparison, the United States’ current total renewable capacity was around 165 gigawatts in 2014.) #-ad_banner-#This is an ambitious goal, but experts say it’s achievable. Amazingly, 300 million people in India have no electricity today — so the nation needs to make enormous investments in energy infrastructure anyway. They’ll just do so with renewables — mainly solar and wind. India plans to add 100 gigawatts of solar capacity, 60 of wind, 10 of biomass and five of hydroelectric. And that’s just India. All of the major economies are making similar… Read More