India is doing very well in terms of climate action, with its various measures having already reduced annual carbon dioxide emissions by 238 million tons, the Union Power Minister, R K Singh, said today, at the 14th Clean Energy Ministerial meeting currently underway here.

Highlighting India’s many programs, like the Ujala scheme (for LED lighting) and energy efficiency schemes, Singh said, “I’m already there.”

Outlining ongoing projects and proposals, the Minister said that 30,000 MW of pumped hydro storage projects were under various stages of approvals and implementation.

Singh said that 88 GW of renewable energy projects were in the pipeline and stressed the need for a round-the-clock supply of renewable energy. “If we don’t have RTC renewable energy, we can’t have net zero,” he said.

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V K Saraswat, Member, Niti Aayog, who spoke after the Minister, made a detailed presentation about India’s green energy transition, in which he mentioned that India would go in for ‘small nuclear reactors’ for the supply of base load power.

Fossil fuels still dominate

Saraswat said that India would need 5,651 TWhr of energy by 2047, but half of it would still come from coal.

“Despite producing more and more renewable energy each year, the energy mix is still dominated by coal and gas by a mark of 80 percent,” the Niti Aayog member said.

Pointing out that India still imports 80 per cent of its crude oil requirements, Saraswat said, “ India has already experienced a surge in import bill,” which grew by 76 per cent in the first half of 2022-23, even as imports increased by only 15 per cent in volume terms.

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