Tuesday, June 9, 2009

India’s ambitious Solar Mission Plan deserves praise: Greenpeace

Bangalore, India — Greenpeace, today, applauded the Indian Government at the current round of climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany for taking a bold step with the solar mission plan in its fight against climate change(1). The Indian Solar mission document which has been leaked to the media (2) if implemented, can move India towards a low carbon growth path that is sustainable.
“The solar mission document that is floating around appears to be an ambitious and aggressive plan for mass dispersal of renewable energy technology in the country. Dr Manmohan Singh should make the mission public and ensure that the final mission document keeps the spirit and targets in the draft. This will secure India’s position as leader in solar technology- the energy technology of the future.” said Siddharth Pathak, Climate & Energy campaigner Greenpeace, from the UN Climate negotiations at Bonn, Germany.  

The solar mission if implemented will ensure a good position for India, domestically as well as internationally. A huge uptake in solar will create jobs, trigger high technology diffusion, help with poverty alleviation in the country and also contribute to the fight against climate change. An analysis done by Greenpeace shows that this draft plan will ensure an annual reduction of 434 million tons of CO2 emissions every year by 2050 based on the assumption that solar will replace fossil fuels.

This is immense and crucial to India since it has a lot to lose from the effects that climate change will have on its land and people. Even the changing monsoons which are the climate tipping point, will have far reaching social and economic impacts. Greenpeace highlighted this yesterday by releasing a report on the impacts of climate change on the monsoon. (3)

“The solar mission exists on paper and is not an official government position. There are still gaps in the draft document on clear regulatory mechanisms and strong institutions. The government should look into this aspect for the final mission document to be robust.” said Vinuta Gopal, Climate & Energy campaigner, Greenpeace.  

The implementation of the solar mission requires a strong regulatory framework, and sufficient finance. “We urge the Indian government to immediately release this mission along with the seven others as mentioned in the climate action plan. It has to be declared as a high priority governmental policy and implemented right away. A first immediate step should be to pass a progressive RE-law, which supports the proposed solar mission with a feed-in-tariff system.” she added.  

In Bonn, Greenpeace also called upon the industrialized countries to stop delaying recognition of needs for technology and finance of the developing countries. “To fulfill the solar mission, India needs international technological support. Industrialized countries need to come up with concrete proposal on technology and finance to support developing countries” said Siddharth.
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