Every day, people around the planet are looking for new ways to go green. The Indian government has devised a new plan that is certain to pack double the force when it comes to eliminating carbon: its new coal tax will fund its 750 MW solar power capacity addition plan. By March 2017, says Clean Technica’s Mridul Chadha, it plans to add 3,600 MW through federal policies and 6,000 MW through state policies.
The impact that the Indian government’s efforts to go green could have are potentially enormous, since, according to a Wall Street Journal blog post by Preetika Rana, Indian carbon emissions are at a “disturbing” level. Rana cited an interview with climate change specialist Crinne Le Quere, who noted that at the rate that Indian carbon emissions are multiplying, “India’ carbon levels will be at par with China, if not higher, by 2020.”
The carbon tax, which was introduced in the summer of 2010, assesses a tax of Rs 50 per ton of coal, whether it is produced in India or imported to India. Part of this money will be going toward funding 30 percent of the total capital investment required for the solar power capacity addition plan.
In an interview with The Hindu, Kandeh K. Yumkella, the director-general of UNIDO, conveyed confidence that India will reach the green standards that South Korea and Singapore have in place, through “the right level of commitment, both financial and political, carrot-and-stick incentives and strict monitoring and regulation.”
It seems that the world may be able to finally rest easy about the carbon emissions in India, but there remains cause for alarm in China: Chinese officials told an aviation forum that the country “will not accept any unilateral and compulsory market measures” to pay fines for carbon emissions within Europe for its airline carriers.
Edited by Rachel Ramsey