Read what Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the budget while highlighting the negative impact of climate change risks on India and other countries, emphasizing energy transition and climate action…
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, marking the negative impact of the risks of climate change on India and other countries, said that additional funds will be given for the removal and scrapping of old polluting vehicles. Funds were allocated to get rid of old vehicles for the scrapping policy of polluting vehicles. 3 lakh youth will be trained under PM Pranam Yojana.Kaushal Vikas Yojana for balance use of fertilizers. 30 International Skill Centers will be set up. 10,000 bio input centers will be set up for pesticides.
Under the Govardhan scheme, 200 compressed bio gas will be included for generating income from 500 new residuals, in which the total cost will be Rs 10,000 crore. Diamond made in the lab will be cheaper, exemption will be given in custom duty. We will help one crore farmers to adopt natural farming. Rs 35,000 crore priority capital for energy transformation; Battery storage to get viability gap funding.
Assistance will be given for replacement of old vehicles. The local community will be linked to the development of wetlands under the Amrit Dharohar Yojana. New scheme launched for alternative fertilizers.
The first budget after India joined the net zero carbon commitment in 2022-23 focused on energy transition and climate action. However, significant budget allocations were not made in key areas such as energy efficiency, sustainability and clean technology. Using the interest of investors in the growing energy sector, the Finance Minister had said that Sovereign Green Bonds would be issued to raise resources for green infrastructure.
The government’s plan was that this would be a part of the total market borrowing during 2022-23. The money raised from this was to be invested in public sector projects that would help reduce the carbon intensity of the economy. The Finance Minister had declared in his national address at the COP26 Climate Conference in November 2021 that India would become a Net Carbon Zero economy by 2070.
He also said that India will have a low carbon emission strategy, under which 5 more targets were set. The Finance Minister had said in his speech that the strategy of low-carbon growth would create vast employment opportunities and take the country on the path of sustainable development. Accordingly, some short term and some long term action was proposed in this budget. This included an emphasis on solar energy manufacturing, circular economy transition and moving towards a carbon neutral economy.
Of these, solar energy is the only one, for which the Finance Minister announced an allocation of Rs 19,500 crore under the Production Linked Incentive Scheme. Which was for the manufacturers of high efficiency solar PV modules. The Finance Minister has included 4 major steps for a carbon neutral economy – energy efficiency, bio-fuel blending in thermal power plants, coal gasification and agro-forestry. In the budget for the year 2022-23, an additional allocation of Rs 19,500 crore was made for production linked incentive for manufacturing high efficiency solar modules to achieve the target of 280 GW of installed solar power by the year 2030.
5 to 7 percent biomass pellets fire were to be installed in thermal power plants. There was a plan to save 38 MMT carbon dioxide annually. Along with increasing additional income for farmers and employment opportunities for local people, it will also help in preventing stubble burning in the fields. Four pilot projects were to be set up for coal gasification and conversion of coal into chemicals for industry. Financial assistance to farmers belonging to scheduled castes and tribes adopting agro-forestry was discussed in the budget last year.
