Context

• Recently, Production Gap Report 2021 was flagged by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Key Findings of Production Gap Report 2021

• The climate crisis has become clearer than ever, but it has not been able to compel major emitters to improve action on the ground so far.
• Governments across the world are still planning to produce more than double the fossil fuels than what the world requires to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• The production gap to achieve the climate goal is the widest for coal: Production plans and projections by governments would lead to around 240 per cent more coal, 57 per cent more oil, and 71 per cent more gas in 2030 than global levels consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C.
• The modelling analysis has considered carbon dioxides removal (CDR) technologies to be deployed widely and methane emissions and leakages to be arrested.
  • These assumptions are yet to be proven workable in practice and any deviation from the assumptions will lead to further widening of the gap.
• The most worrying factor is that almost all major coal, oil and gas producers are planning to increase their production till at least 2030 or beyond.
• This has been fuelled by incremental capital flow towards fossil fuels in comparison to clean energy in the post novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) recovery phase.
• The Group of 20 countries has channelised $300 billion to fossil fuels since the beginning of the pandemic, and the sector is still enjoying significant fiscal incentives.
• The world does not have any more time to alter its trajectory of energy use from fossil to clean energy, and a slight deviation in the coming decade will have a substantial burden of adversaries to our future generations, as we will be locked into long-term human-induced global warming beyond 2 degrees Celsius.
• The report has underlined massive gaps between our pledges and actions, which need to be rectified with a real policy plan and finance.

India’s Position

• India’s first NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution), issued in 2016, pledged a 33%-35% reduction in the “emissions intensity” of its economy by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.
• The report quotes a 2020 Government of India press release, to shine a light on India’s plans to raise coal production.
• The government seeks to “unleash the power of coal” and become self-reliant by 2023-24; it also wants to bring about “a paradigm shift in approach from being oriented to maximum revenue from coal to maximum coal available in the market at the earliest.”
• India plans to augment coal production from 730 million tonnes in 2019 to 1,149 million tonnes in 2024.
• India also aims to increase total oil and gas production by over 40% in the same period through measures such as accelerated exploration licensing, faster monetization of discoveries, and gas marketing reforms.

Source: DTE

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