The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which aims to tap the $800-billion global carbon market, a move that will facilitate more foreign direct investment (FDI) in green technologies to fast track India’s clean energy transition.

Besides the aim of setting up carbon markets in the country, the legislation sought to mandate the use of non-fossil sources, including green hydrogen, green ammonia, biomass and ethanol for energy and feedstock.

‘Bill of the future’

Terming it as “the bill for the future”, Power Minister RK Singh said it also seeks to introduce new concepts such as carbon trading and mandate the use of non-fossil sources to ensure faster decarbonisation of the Indian economy and help achieve sustainable development goals in line with the Paris Agreement.

He said that India’s renewable energy transition is the fastest in the world.

Through the Bill, now passed by Lok Sabha, the government wants to bring buildings large residential buildings within the fold of the Energy Conservation regime, enhancing the scope of Energy Conservation Building Code, and increasing members in the Governing Council of Bureau of Energy Efficiency. The government aims to save an estimated 300 billion units of electricity by 2030.

New areas

Amidst growing energy needs and changing global climate landscape, the Centre has identified new areas to achieve higher levels of penetration of renewable energy. For instance, the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill aims to make it mandatory for buildings with a minimum connected load of 100 KW to meet their energy requirements from renewable sources

By adopting energy efficiency measures, India holds a potential to reduce about 550 MtCO2 by 2030. It also provides for penalties for violations by industrial units or vessels, and on manufacturers if a vehicle fails to comply with fuel consumption norms.

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Welcoming the development, Nandia Andersen Lead Partner (Sustainability & Developmental/ CSR Services) Rajib Kumar Debnath said it may boost increased FDI in green and up-to-date advanced technologies, thereby, facilitating India to meet its commitment of 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable sources by the year 2030, as well as reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes.

“In view of the global carbon market reaching over $800 billion in 2021, the introduction of the carbon credit trading scheme through the amended Energy Conservation Bill in India, could be seen as a smart move in incentivising organisations, in faster adoption of low carbon technologies,” he added.

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