India Climate Body Pushes for Low-Carbon Steel, Heavy Industries
India Climate Collaborative is helping the nation meet its climate goals by working to decarbonize heavy industries.
(Bloomberg) -- India Climate Collaborative is helping the nation meet its climate goals by working to decarbonize heavy industries such as steelmaking, according to the head of the organisation backed by some of the nation’s top corporate leaders and philanthropists.
“While we have the technology to develop low-carbon steel, it isn’t commercially viable yet. It’s a chicken and egg situation,” Chief Executive Officer Shloka Nath said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “There’s a lack of supply of low-carbon steel, because there’s a lack of demand and vice versa. So we’re working to develop a market demand for low-carbon steel in India.”
Growing demand for materials such as steel, aluminum, cement and fertilizer can jeopardize efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and arrest a rise in global temperatures, unless these energy-intensive industries switch to low-carbon production. Technologies such as carbon capture and hydrogen are getting increasing interest from nations and investors to make them commercially viable.
Nath echoed the Indian government’s position that the south Asian economy was meeting its climate commitments and that developed nations should do more to cut emissions and pay up for clean energy developments in developing economies.
India is the world’s third-biggest emitter and uses coal to produce almost 70% of its electricity. While it has set an ambitious goal to more than quadruple its renewable power capacity by the end of this decade, it has asked richer nations to fulfill their commitments to fund clean energy transition in the developing world.
““There should be a deal to attract at least $1 trillion private capital in clean energy infrastructure in developing countries by 2030,” Nath said, talking of her expectations from the climate talks underway in Glasgow, Scotland.
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