Lessons from India's COP 26 commitments

In an address at the World Leaders Summit at the U.N.’s climate change conference, COP 26, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his country’s commitment to reaching net-zero emissions by 2070. As India is the world’s third-largest polluter, the pledge received some criticism, with observers saying it falls 20 years short of the global net-zero goal set for 2050. As part of the country’s commitments, Modi revealed plans to use renewable sources for 50% of its energy requirements by 2030. Currently, India relies on coal for 70% of its electricity generation, but Modi said the nation intends to increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030. Additionally, India and the United Kingdom outlined a plan to create a transnational network of solar power grids. The initiative, known as One Sun One World One Grid, aims to connect 140 countries through the solar-powered electricity network, thereby reducing reliance on nonrenewable energy sources such as coal and enabling nations to purchase solar power from each other. “With a worldwide grid, clean energy will be available everywhere, every time. This will lessen the need for storage and increase the viability of solar projects,” Modi said. India’s plans could act as a blueprint for African countries looking to scale up investments in renewable energy, according to climate experts, but governments need to create an enabling environment. Nearly 80% of the African continent’s electricity generation comes from fossil fuels, with non-hydro renewable energy accounting for just over 3% of current generation. The continent would benefit from more investment in renewable energy, said Al-Hamndou Dorsouma, officer in charge of climate change and green growth at the African Development Bank, but the cost of the technologies has been an inhibiting factor. “African countries are facing challenges in order to invest in those technologies,” he said. “In the past, those technologies were very expensive. But the cost is coming down, and this is a great opportunity to scale up investments in that area. But to do that, we need resources. We need upfront cost. Who is going to pay for that? Finance is very key.” Funding for the One Sun One World One Grid initiative will be arranged by the International Solar Alliance, which aims to mobilize $1 trillion in funding by 2030 to expand solar power grids to meet energy needs. Dorsouma said engaging the private sector and ensuring that enabling policies are in place would also be key to accelerating solar energy adoption in Africa. The share of renewables in India's total energy mix grew from 6% to 10% between 2014 and 2019. The government has used fiscal incentives and favorable policies to encourage renewable energy investment. As a result, the renewable energy sector has received more than $42 billion in investment since 2014 and about $7 billion in foreign direct investment between April 2000 and June 2018. Akinwale Morenikeji — the CEO at Mainstream Green Energies Solution, a private renewable energy company in Nigeria — said African governments need to do the same by finding ways to drive down costs, improve quality control, and remove roadblocks to increase renewable energy investment on the continent. “We need the government to get rid of bad policies, such as overtaxing and high import duty on renewable energy accessories. We also need help with the high cost of transportation; bad roads, especially from the ports; unstable exchange rates; and inactive standard organization,” he said. “Without the right taxation system, we are not going to get the technologies in our countries. We believe that having the right policy environments in place, having the necessary institutional arrangement also, [and] mainstreaming those issues into the national development planning processes are very important in order to scale access to solar technologies in Africa,” Dorsouma said. Alexia Latortue, deputy chief executive officer at the Millennium Challenge Corporation — which aims to support African countries to meet their so-called nationally determined contributions under the Paris climate agreement — added that the right financing framework is also needed. “MCC will work with countries to create the right regulatory and policy environment for renewable energy, including solar — helping to ensure that independent power processors [that] are interested in the countries are willing to come in,” she said. “African countries are facing challenges in order to invest in those [renewable energy] technologies. … To do that, we need resources. We need upfront cost. Who is going to pay for that?.” --— Al-Hamndou Dorsouma, officer in charge of climate change and green growth,cAfrican Development Bank Despite the challenges, Africa’s renewable energy sector has seen some notable improvements over the past 15 years, according to Dorsouma, and investment in renewable energy is likely to increase. “Now we have a big private sector window at the AfDB. We have also developed some tools to enable local national entities to also get access to resources,” he said. “With those tools in place, we are going to expand our financing not only to governments but also to subnational institutions, as well as private sectors, which also have roles to play — especially the small and medium-sized enterprises.” Dorsouma added that though the bank is waiting for more details on the transnational solar power grid, Africa is likely to benefit from the initiative. “Africa has a great potential for solar,” he said. “Africa will be part of [the initiative]. … But at what scale and how? These are the issues we have to follow up after [the U.N. Climate Change Conference].”