What 2019 Budget can do to help India clean its air, reduce coal addiction

What 2019 Budget can do to help India clean its air, reduce coal addiction Addressing policy issues are important if India is to fulfill its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement 2015 to install 175 giga watt (GW).

What 2019 Budget can do to help India clean its air, reduce coal addiction on Business Standard.

Addressing policy issues are important if India is to fulfill its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement 2015 to install 175 giga watt (GW).

Interim Budget 2019 » India has one of the world’s largest programmes to expand renewables--a doubling of capacity over the next four years--but India’s ambitious 2022 target of generating enough noncoal energy to replace the equivalent of 175 coal-powered plants is veering off track.

On February 1, 2019, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a chance to get things back on track, help India reduce its addiction to coal, help clean the country’s air and meet the global climate-change commitments of the world’s fourth-fastest growing carbon polluter.

After record growth in the installed capacity of renewables over the four years to 2017, capacity addition slowed down in 2018. The main reasons: an anti-dumping duty imposed by the government on imported solar modules to aid domestic manufacturing, higher rates of taxation under the goods and service tax (GST) and unclear policy.

So, the last budget before 2019 general elections is of particular significance to the renewables sector, which comprises electricity from solar, wind, hydro and bio power.

The upcoming budget can help remove policy uncertainties from the sector and provide “long-term indications”, Daanish Verma, executive vice president, sustainable investment banking, YES Bank, told IndiaSpend.

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