Decarbonizing of transport sector is essential to reduce carbon emissions: RK Singh

New Delhi: Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh on Monday said that decarbonizing of transport sector is absolutely essential to reduce carbon emissions.

Launcing a brand-new EV-Ready India Dashboard (evreadyindia.org) in New Delhi, “The adoption of electric vehicles is critical for a growing economy like India as well as for climate action”

“It is necessary to change the climate change discourse and make it real. The discourse on climate action has been driven by developed countries, which has been nothing but hypocritical.

The Minister added that “Our per capita emissions are one third of global average, while that of developed countries is three times the global average.

“We are responsible for only 4% of legacy carbon dioxide load on the planet even though our population is 17%. So, we have added least quantum of carbon on a per capita basis and we are adding at the slowest possible rate on a per capita basis” Singh said.

The Minister reiterated that any assessment of carbon emissions has to be on per capita basis, not on absolute terms.

“ We are the only major economy which has achieved all its NDC commitments in advance. We achieved NDC of reducing emission intensity in 2019, 11 years in advance. So, in Glasgow, we said that we will have 50% of our power capacity coming from non-fossil-fuel sources” he added.

“We pledged that we will reduce our emissions intensity by 45%…adding that transition to EVs will reduce our emissions. “It is important to us as a government since we value our planet, it is in our culture. We are taking action since we believe in the environment.”

Talking about e-mobility, the Minister said, “It is absolutely essential for India as a country to switch to electric mobility”

“We want to move up from 5th largest to 3rd largest economy and increase our heft in strategic affairs. This requires energy independence, which is the primary reason for Electric Vehicles.” he added.

The Minister said “The future is electric. Nobody can stop this. The price of storage will come down, and once that comes down, diesel and petrol SUVs will be history. We will have electric, which suits in our journey as one of the largest economies of the world.”

The dashboard developed by thinktank OMI Foundation, which estimates over 1.6 crore annual EV deployments in India by 2030.

The dashboard is a free digital platform focussed on near real-time Electric Vehicle adoption and forecasts, associated battery demand, charging density, and market growth trends.

The dashboard is expected to facilitate greater inclusion across audiences, for the industry, policymakers and end users of electric vehicles.

The foundation said that Maharashtra and Delhi operating with the highest number of charging stations in India (2531 and 1815 respectively).

Tamil Nadu emerges as the E2W manufacturing hub of the country, Telangana leads in E3W manufacturing, Maharashtra in E4W manufacturing, Gujarat in battery manufacturing, and Karnataka in R&D.

Chandigarh reports the lowest public charging supply tariff at INR 3.6/kWh, 73% lower compared to the national average of INR 13.74/kWh.

The dashboard also reports that India has avoided an estimated 5.18 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2023 so far, equivalent to 85.47 million tree seedlings covering twice the cumulative area of Lakshadweep islands.”

Executive Director of OMI Foundation, Aishwarya Raman said “EV-Ready India is a dashboard that is all-in-one and free for all. It is for all those who want to be a part of India’s EV journey.