(Chandra Bhushan is a researcher and CEO, International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology. This column first appeared in Times of India on August 10, 2021)
- The latest IPCC report paints a grim picture of the future if the world fails to eliminate the use of fossil fuels over the next three decades. India will be disproportionately impacted by extreme weather events. Therefore, the only question in front of us is how best to plan this transition to secure a just and equitable outcome. Otherwise, chaos and disruptions are a foregone conclusion. Note here that there is a stark asymmetry in India’s energy map. While 85% of coal production is concentrated in relatively poor eastern and central states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, over 60% of renewable energy potential (and 80% of current capacity) is concentrated in relatively wealthy southern and western states – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.