Gandhinagar : Commitment to create India net zero Emission by 2070. Gujarat has taken an initiative in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to India to reach net zero emissions by 2070. In the inspiring presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, an MOU in this regard was signed between the Government of Gujarat and the Energy Policy Institute University of Chicago as well as J-Pal of South Asia in Gandhinagar. Energy Minister Kanu Desai was also present on the occasion. As a result of this MOU, Gujarat will become the first state in the country to consider carbon market planning. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the UN General Assembly held in Glasgow on November 2021. Climate Change Conference COP-26 pledges to take India towards Net Zero Emissions by 2070. In this context, India has set five targets to reach 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuel electricity capacity by 2030. Renewable energy contributes 50% to the energy mix to reduce carbon emissions to approximately 1 billion tons.Gujarat is the largest vibrant economy in the country and a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Not only this, with environment protection and development growth policies, Gujarat fulfils important issues of environment protection and industrial development. The Gujarat Government has now signed this MOU as an initiative to start CO2 market. As a result, Gujarat will be at the forefront of sophisticated and timely global climate policy and industries will grow in Gujarat along with environmental protection. Human life will get a healthy and pure environment. New investments will also come in large numbers in Gujarat and Gujarat will become a leading example for the nation in the field of CO2 market.
It is pertinent to point out here that Gujarat is one of the initiatives in this regard, the world’s first emissions trading scheme for particulate matter in Surat. This project has been started as a big pilot project in 2019 at Surat jointly by Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department, Central Pollution Control Board and Gujarat Pollution Control Board. About 350 highly polluted industries of Surat are taking advantage of this project and the air has been purified as the emissions of the industries have been reduced by 24%. Following this success, Gujarat Pollution Control Board is now expanding the project to Ahmedabad, Vapi, Vadodara and Bharuch. Gujarat has also signed an MOU today with the name of becoming a model state in the Prime Minister’s commitment to make India a Net Zero Emissions Nation by setting up a CO2 market. On this MOU, on behalf of the Government of Gujarat, Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Industry, Rajiv Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary Climate Change Haider and Principal Secretary, Energy Mamta Verma, were present. Alia Khan, Associate Director, University of Chicago and Shobhini Mukherjee, Executive Director, J-Pal signed the agreement. Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary Kailashnathan, Industry Commissioner Rahul Gupta, senior officials of Industry, Energy and Climate Change Department were also present on the occasion.
