The Hindu Business Line : UK keen to work with India on attaining energy efficiency

Chennai, Nov. 27 Britain can work with India in increasing energy efficiency and curbing carbon dioxide emissions to tackle adverse environmental impact and climate change, said Mr Richard Stagg, British High Commissioner to India.

Addressing a public lecture on ‘A sustainable future: India and Britain working together’, organised by the Centre for Security Analysis, he said capturing carbon to avoid adverse environmental impact was essential if developing economies such as India and China are to meet their energy demand without damaging the global environment.

Britain was conscious that the adverse impact of climate change was an immediate threat to India compared to the US or UK, which have contributed more to the problem. “Those least responsible for this problem historically would be affected the most,” he said.

Energy Outlook

The International Energy Agency in its World Energy Outlook 2007 forecasts that by 2030 the energy demand would increase by 50 per cent globally with India and China accounting for nearly half that increase. This would mean that carbon dioxide emissions would also have gone up significantly. By then over 96 per cent of the Indian population would have access to electricity with coal-fired power generation capacity trebling over that available currently. India would be the second largest importer of coal after Japan and the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide, he said.

Renewable energy cannot offer complete solution to India’s energy needs, as this would involve investments of over $800-1,000 billion. If the use of coal is inevitable then it is essential that environmental impact is minimised. Britain is willing to work with India to achieve increased efficiencies and lower carbon emissions, Mr Stagg said.

The UK sees this as a shared agenda on addressing climate change globally and getting clean power in line with its commitments to the Kyoto Protocol on carbon emission reduction.

Nuclear Power

In the context of low-carbon-emission power source nuclear power was an ideal component in the mixed source of power generation. Though it is a topic of debate in India, and it was up to India to take the final decision, UK believes that the India-US agreement on civilian uses of nuclear energy is good to address the energy needs.

Renewable Energy

He noted that India has a clear strategy for increasing power generation from renewable sources. Wind power was on the increase and India has emerged the fourth largest wind power generator. Solar power was yet to achieve similar degree of success because of the costs involved. British companies were planning investments of over $400 million to develop solar panels.

Market forces

Mr Stagg said that it is the market forces that decide the technologies used to address carbon emission. The market will be critical in sending the signals on cost of carbon. The ‘low carbon sector’ is a serious business that by 2050 would be a $3,000 billion sector providing over 25 million jobs worldwide.

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