National Core Working Groups: India
During the first week of November 2023, IAM COMPACT held an in-person stakeholder workshop in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The objective of the workshop was to discuss the current trends in India's climate efforts as well as elicit feedback from key stakeholders and draw insights from national experiences to understand the possible policy priorities to attain net-zero emissions by 2070, as committed by the country's Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, at COP26 in Glasgow.
India has pledged to become net zero by 2070. India's NDC commitment has three main elements:
- an emissions-intensity target of 45% below 2005 levels by 2030;
- a target of achieving 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030; and
- a carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 GtCO2eq. through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
The diversity of stakeholders participating in the event highlighted that there is a need to prioritise the decarbonisation of India’s building sector as there is a huge policy gap in terms of both design and implementation. Its building space is expected to increase by more than 2.5 times by 2050. Additionally, there is a lack of scientific literature and peer-review research studies focussing on decarbonisation of the country's residential and commercial building stock aligned with the country’s updated NDC commitments to the UNFCCC.
The workshop aimed to promote an open discussion between government officials, industry leaders, researchers, and academia. It featured an open discussion between various stakeholders, including four government officers, ten industry leaders, ten researchers, and six academics.
Key research questions emerging from the event oriented towards better understanding the potential action space and policy priorities for decarbonising India's building sector towards net zero emissions by 2070.