Centre for Fuel Studies and Research

Climate Action- Achieving Green and Inclusive Growth

Perspective

Everybody accepted that there is a need for immediate climate

action, but none of them were willing to forego current gains for
future well being. Lockdown on account of corona virus has proved
the point beyond any doubt that discerning between desire (for
lifestyle quality) and need (for survival and reasonable comfort) is
the best way to stop climate change. Resource Sufficiency and
Resource Efficiency are critical to mankind for optimising climate
impact due to human activities. Hope what we have adopted by
compulsion is not hastily given up when the corona threat wanes
away.
Current Scenario

The United Nations had released its report warning that, if climate
change’s worst impacts were to be avoided, the nations of the world
had about a decade to revolutionize the energy economy. “The
policies are lagging very, very far—miles, miles, miles behind the
science and what needs to be done,” an American economist said.
Current plans and policies, including Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs), result in a similar level of annual
emissions in 2050 compared to today, which risks putting the
world on a pathway of 2.6 degrees Celsius of temperature rise or
higher after 2050.
There are other risks of not taking action now. Infrastructure
investment decisions today lock in energy use and emissions for
decades. Investment in long-term assets, such as in fossil fuel
infrastructure and inefficient building stock, continue unabated.
This not only risks locking in emissions, but will add significant
liability to the balance sheets of energy companies, utilities,
investors and property owners.
The energy transition will result in some asset stranding, totalling
USD 11.8 trillion overall by 2050 in the REmap Case suggested by
IRENA, of which the highest share occurs in buildings (63%) and
upstream investments in fossil fuels (28%). However, delaying
action will almost double the amount of stranded assets, adding
an additional USD 7.7 trillion and increasing the total value of
stranded assets to USD 19.5 trillion by 2050. Delaying action
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therefore risks missing climate targets and may require relying on

costly and unproven negative emission technologies.
What we Need to do is to achieve a quantum Change for Better

Governments can’t turn a blind eye to Environment, Ecology,

Climate and the avowed commitment for “Inclusive Growth”
while taking decisions related to Economic Growth.
This is our ‘use it or lose it’ moment. Investing the expected
US$90 trillion to 2030 to build the right infrastructure now
will deliver a new era of economic growth. Investing it wisely
will help drive innovation, deliver public health benefits and
inclusive growth, create a host of new jobs and go a long way
to tackling the risks of runaway climate change. Getting it
wrong, on the other hand, will lock us into a high-polluting,
low productivity, and deeply unequal future.
“Things which have traditionally been treated as free
goods—air, water, quiet, natural beauty—must now be
treated with the same care as other scarce goods.”
The decisions we take over the next 2-3 years are crucial because
of the urgency of a changing climate and the unique window of
unprecedented structural changes already underway. The world
is expected to invest about US$90 trillion on infrastructure in the
period up to 2030, more than the entire current stock today.
Much of this investment will be programmed in the next few
y e a rs .
This is our ‘use it or lose it’ moment. Investing the US$90 trillion
to build the right infrastructure now will deliver a new era of
economic growth. Investing it wisely will help drive innovation,
deliver public health benefits, create a host of new jobs and go a
long way to tackling the risks of runaway climate change.
Getting it wrong, on the other hand, will lock us into a high-
polluting, low productivity, and deeply unequal future.
A focus on sustainability at the outset will bolster quality and avoid
subsequent costs and the risk of stranded assets. Sustainability
criteria need to be more explicitly incorporated into decision
making, starting from initial planning to project prioritisation, to

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procurement and public-private frameworks, to the design of

individual projects.
In the last few years the energy sector has started changing in
promising ways. Renewable power technologies are dominating the
global market for new generation capacity, the electrification of
transport is showing early signs of disruptive acceleration, and key
enabling technologies such as batteries and other methods of power
storage are experiencing rapid reductions in costs.
Structural change also plays a critical role in meeting global climate
targets and enabling the high level of energy efficiency that is
required. Changes include modal shifts in transport (e.g.,
from individual passenger cars to shared mobility and
public transport), as well as efforts in industry such as the
circular economy and industry relocation to areas where
renewable energy is plentiful.
Investment in infrastructure needs to be focused on low-carbon,
sustainable a nd long-term solutions that embrace
electrification and decentralisation. Investment is needed in
smart energy systems, power grids, recharging infrastructure,
storage, hydrogen, and district heating and cooling in cities.
Circular economy practices can drive aggressive and readily
realisable reductions in resource consumption, energy demand and
emissions. Reusing, recycling and reducing the use of water,
metals, resources, residues and raw materials in general should be
amplified. Lifestyle changes can facilitate deeper emissions
reductions which are challenging to implement and accurately
forecast over decades.
Some Suggested Forward Paths

Understanding the Nexus between various resources- e.g.

We need to start seeing water in energy and energy in
wa t er .
We need to see energy, water, CO2 and pollution in
Products discarded.
Breaking the linkage between economic growth and Energy
Needs

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It’s long been axiomatic that economic growth and energy demand
are linked. As economies grow, energy demand increases; if energy
is constrained, GDP growth pulls back in turn.
Energy demand has long tracked economic growth. So much so that
for the past two centuries, the amounts of energy that economies
need have increased with the amounts of wealth that economies
create. And, to a remarkable degree, wealth creation has depended
on a society’s proficiency at burning things.
O
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nggee.. A multiyear research effort
examining the supply and demand of 55 types of energy across 30
sectors in some 146 countries—suggests that we’re beginning to see
a decoupling between the rates of economic growth and energy
demand, which in the decades ahead will become even more
pronounced.
The world needs to change the way of life and adopt technologies
in all pervasive manner that will help break the direct correlation
between energy needs and economic growth.
At the turn of the 20th century, rates of both energy demand and
economic growth took off. From 1900 to 1950—as horses gave way
to cars, oil lamps to electric lighting, and ice boxes to refrigerators—
primary energy demand nearly doubled. Economic growth rates
soared as well; in the United States (by far the largest economy in
the world), GDP per capita in 1950 was more than twice that of
190 0.
The 20th century’s embrace of petroleum (to accompany coal) sent
production and consumption into overdrive. Fossil fuels lose about
40 to 70 percent of their embodied energy when converted into
electrical or mechanical energy.
The decoupling of the rates of economic growth (climbing steadily)
and energy demand growth (ascending, but less steeply) will largely
be a function of the following forces:
• a marked increase in energy efficiency, the result of technological
improvements and behavioural changes
• the rise of electrification, in itself a more efficient way to meet
energy needs in many applications
• the growing use of renewables—resources that don’t need to be
burned to generate power—a trend with the potential not only to
flatten the primary energy demand curve but also to utterly
change the way we think about power

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The major areas for action are:

Transportation Sector
Reason why energy demand should plateau is the promise of
electrification. Combustion-powered motors top out at about 40
percent efficiency; electric motors can exceed 90 percent.
Vehicle electrification-Recharged by distributed green power-, Green
Hydrogen based Fuel cell Vehicles for long haul, ride sharing,
vehicle as a service business models and the use of lightweight
materials such as carbon and aluminum could materially change
the demand for oil—and for cars. This will result in much lower
resource consumption for a given volume and level of service.
Car-sharing services already exist, of course, but there is plenty
of room for newcomers wanting to join the disruption of
transport.
Since vehicles for ride-sharing on local roads in urban areas can be
engineered to weigh less than half of today’s conventional vehicles,
much of whose weight results from the demands of highway driving
and the potential for high-speed collisions. Lighter vehicles are
more fuel efficient, use less steel, and will require less spending on
new roads or upkeep of existing ones. A study estimates that a
smaller car fleet alone would potentially reduce global steel
consumption by about 5 percent by 2035, compared with a
business-as-usual scenario.
Power Sector
We expect demand for electricity to outpace the demand for other
energy sources by more than two to one. But the electricity-
generation mix is changing as solar- and wind-power technologies
improve and prices fall. If appropriate power storage technologies
are incorporated with solar and wind power assets, it will help
overcome the variable generation nature of solar and wind. Apart
from storage, the concept of hybrid assets for power generation with
some storage could further improve the reliability of power assets.
Out of all fossil fuels, natural gas will be the last to be knocked out
of consideration as an energy resource since compared to coal and
oil it results in much lower emissions. However if natural gas were
to be used for power generation, looking to the amount of waste
heat generation in power generation; it would be essential to use
natural gas in distributed generation with CCHP technology in
order to use waste heat gainfully to meet heating and cooling
requirements of industries, commercial establishments or district

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heating and cooling systems. Natural gas based distributed

generation can be used along with distributed solar (rooftop solar,
solar trees, Solar facades etc.) to form reliable hybrid microgrids.
Resource productivity-Circular Economy
It has been said over and over again that the world is consuming
more resources than what mother earth can regenerate. Again
uncontrolled resource extraction has taken a heavy toll on ecology-
Forests, mangroves, landscapes, natural water sources- and
environment. Resource extraction also results in huge emissions of
CO2 and other pollutants.
The only way of achieving future economic growth without over
extraction of natural resources is adopting Circular Economy on an
economy wide scale.
Batteries
An example in batteries for EVs exhibits this concept in the best
possible manner. Lithium ion batteries to be used for EVs will face
the problem of resource crunch as lithium sources are limited.
Recycling of lithium batteries is being resorted to but it can help in
a small way to deal with resource crunch hurting the growth of
EVs. It is in this context that a new technology of Alluminium Air
batteries can go a long way in providing batteries for EVs with a
complete circular economy since used Alluminium Air batteries can
be easily recycled and Aluminium is much widely available resource
while help overcoming the driving range constraint faced by lithium
batteries.
Water
In a thirsty world, technologies that can extract and recycle water
should become increasingly valuable. Advanced water management
also will become more important, with a global imperative of zero
waste and maximum recycling and regeneration. The returns on
water-conservation efforts become more attractive when companies
consider the full economic burden of waste, including disposal
costs, water-pumping and -heating expenses, and the value of
recoverable materials carried off by water.
Companies including Nestlé, PepsiCo, and SABMiller (poised to
merge with Anheuser-Busch InBev) are increasingly focusing on
sustainable water management that embeds water-saving
opportunities in lean management. In India, for example, PepsiCo
now gives back more water to communities where it operates than
its facilities consume. Without more efforts like these, water may
become the most precious, and most coveted, resource of them all.
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Service economies and the decline of energy intensity

Advanced economies tend to become service economies, and the
energy intensity of service sectors is substantially lower than that of
industrial sectors—in some cases, as low as one-twentieth. Services
already are dominant within OECD countries, with the service
sector in the United States, for example, contributing about 80
percent to national GDP. In China and India, lately two of the
greatest engines for energy demand, the share of services in GDP
will grow by almost ten percentage points in the next two decades.
The efficiency effect
Another factor checking energy demand is the increased efficiency
with which energy is put to use. While a growing middle class in
many emerging economies will trigger spectacular increases in the
demand for products such as refrigerators, laundry machines, and
air conditioners; advances in LED lighting, smart appliances, and
other applications will substantially lessen the energy intensity of
households worldwide. In more developed countries—and to an
extent, globally—changes in users’ mind-sets will also boost
efficiency. Not only are people beginning to be more conscious
about their behaviour (such as turning off lights and air
conditioners when they’re not in use), they’re benefitting from
innovations such as automatic sensors and controlled devices,
which eliminate the bother of worrying about such things.
Reducing Energy Demand and Greening Energy Generation in
Industries and Service Sector
Energy costs can comprise a significant share of total expenses in a
variety of business models; energy savings often have an outsized
effect on the bottom line. Changing over to high efficiency
equipments, adopting technologies like heat integration in
processes, adopting circular economy concepts across the value
chain, setting up captive Renewable Power/energy generation and
waste heat recycling can go a long way in reducing the energy
intensity and hence carbon and water footprint.
As far as renewable energy located near the end user is concerned,
what immediately comes to mind is PV Power. However, wherever
there is a concurrent need for power, heating and cooling; solar
heat for cooling and heating could help achieve a greener scenario.
In this context it is important to look at PVT technologies which can
be set up near the end users. German agency GIF has already set
up a number of demonstration units in India to provide proof of

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concept of this technology. All that is needed is taking off from there
and adopt it on a much larger scale which can be used to great
advantage in industry and service sectors like hotels, hospitals,
data centres, office complexes etc.
The growth of renewables
With fossil fuel powered systems what is important is the amount of
fuel inputs needed and the efficiency with which it is used in order
to work out carbon, pollution and water footprint. With renewables,
however, those metrics are practically meaningless. We don’t
measure what fuels a solar panel or pushes a windmill—we
measure the energy that comes out.
Most important, the near total absence of any conversion loss is
radically different: nothing is lost in the burning. Nor do
sunshine or wind power need to be generated at large, centralized
plants. Companies, and indeed individual consumers, can
in many cases harness the energy on-site. While most
businesses will not be able to go completely or even largely off the
grid, many will be able to lessen their electrical costs materially—
and some, particularly large retailers, may even in certain locations
produce a net energy surplus.
Of course, these types of renewable energy need to be captured and
stored. Even this problem will be solved once technological
improvements to solve those challenges and reduce costs
substantially is achieved. In India solar and wind power is already
cheaper than electricity generated conventionally by new-build coal
and natural-gas plants.
Among fossil fuels, only natural gas, which is poised to grow rapidly
as a fuel source in the coming 15 years, is likely to maintain a
constant share through 2050, at least. But as mentioned earlier
natural gas based power production should be in Distributed
Generation mode with waste heat recycling.
Protection of Forests and mangroves
At any time, forests account for as much as double the amount of
carbon in the atmosphere. Forests remove around three billion tons
of carbon every year. This amounts to about 30% of all carbon
dioxide emissions from fossil fuels Therefore, an increase in the
overall forest cover around the world would mitigate global
warming.
Forests are being destroyed for commercial purposes and this needs
to stop forthwith. E.g. in India recent example is destruction of age

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old forest which supports other ecological functions like water

system management for coal mining. This will not be enough. The
governments need to insist on reforestation rather than
compensatory afforestation which do not provide the same
ecological services as virgin forests.
'Reforestation' is the natural or intentional restocking of existing
forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually
through deforestation.
In the beginning of the 21 century more attention is given to the
ability of reforestation to mitigate climate change as one of the best
methods to do it.
As far as forest cover statistics are concerned [India State of Forests
Report (ISFR)] you can fool people and yourself but not mother
earth.
Moral of the story is:
• Economic Growth at the cost of Environment, Ecology and
Climate needs to be averted
• One well to do section of society gaining at the cost of other
section which is anyway in need of upliftment and should be
considered as major stakeholders of forest by ancestry and live
in the forest and depend on it for survival.
• Destruction of forest also causes destruction of catchment areas
of many rivers which disappear from earth due to destruction of
forests.
• Forests are responsible for storing carbon. When trees are
cleared or burned, that carbon is released back into the
atmosphere. Studies show that the social cost of carbon
emissions is about $417 per ton.
Conservation groups have spent decades on research and advocacy
to establish community-led conservation as a sound forest-
governance practice, and the Forest Rights Act brought the missing
piece – justice – by recognising the legal rights of communities to
conserve and manage forests.
India could take inspiration from Great Green Wall projects in
Gobi desert, China and Sahara Desert, Africa where action on the
ground have commenced. Indian government too has announced
creation of a great green wall spanning from Gujarat to Haryana

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along the Aravali Range. However what is important is converting

intent into action.
There is at least one successful example of reforestation:
By reforestation and environmental conservation, Costa Rica
doubled its forest cover in 30 Years.
As of 2019, half of the country's land surface is covered with
forests. They absorb a huge amount of carbon dioxide, combating
climate change.
Canada has the lowest deforestation rate in the world. The forest
industry is one of the main industries in Canada which contributes
about 7% of Canadian economy, and about 9% of the forests on
earth are in Canada. Therefore, Canada has many policies and laws
to commit to sustainable forest management. For example, 94% of
Canadian forests are public land, and the government obligates
planting trees after harvesting to public forests.
Urban Area Planning
In India where urban population is expected to grow in future,
optimum urban planning can go a long way in creating an energy
self sufficient area with very low pollution and other problems like
destruction of surrounding ecology faced by existing urban areas.
Compact cities which have an economic dynamism can attract
creative talent, companies, and capital while higher densities
enable cheaper service delivery and avoid costly urban sprawl.
Urban Expansion frenzy is destroying surrounding ecology and
environment. Rivers and rivulets (i.e. very small rivers or streams)
passing through some of the major Indian cities were once
considered healthy and sound systems supporting the population of
a city by sustaining important sectors such as agriculture,
pisciculture, transportation, industries, recreation among several
others.
As a result of unsatiated lust for urban growth and lax and
uncaring implementation of building and development laws, once
sound ecosystems are today being damaged beyond the opportunity
of rejuvenation. Rivers are reduced to mere ‘nallahs’ or ‘sewers’ due
to rapid, unplanned and haphazard developmental activities and
urbanization processes.
Take the case of recent floods in Vadodara. The repercussion of
haphazard urbanization is evident in Guwahati, especially during
the monsoon, when the city is subjected to artificial flooding

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episodes almost every year. River Varuna and Assi are the two
tributaries of the Ganga flowing through the city of Varanasi. The
present situation of both the Varuna and Assi illustrates an
unfortunate scenario. Unplanned urban and industrial
developmental activities result in both the rivers becoming mere
‘nallahs’ or ‘sewers’ carrying sewage water and effluents through the
city of Varanasi.
The rejuvenation efforts of rivulet Sasur Khaderi in Fatehpur
district of Uttar Pradesh and Kali Bein (Doaba region) of Punjab
could act as potential models towards resurrection of India’s lost or
near-lost rivers and rivulets.
Ways in which Businesses Can Lead the Transition to a Low-
Carbon Economy
As of May, 553 companies collectively representing more than a $10
trillion market cap have committed to adopting emissions-reduction
targets.
These actions aren't just good for the climate. Research shows they
can be good for companies' bottom lines.
Achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals—which include
clean water, clean energy, sustainable cities, climate action,
responsible consumption, reduced inequality and more—could open
a market opportunity of $12 trillion by 2030.
Businesses can unlock the economic benefits of low-carbon growth
in following way:
• Companies can build their competitive advantage early and
benefit from the increased economic productivity associated with
"circular" business models.
• Companies can also adopt other policies to ready themselves for
the transition to a low-carbon economy. Almost 1,400 major
companies have committed to apply a shadow internal
carbon price to "future-proof" their investment
decisions. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. used its internal carbon
fee program to shift investment to the faster adoption of LED
lighting (which uses less energy and therefore emits less carbon)
for its vehicles and manufacturing facilities, increasing energy
savings and giving it a competitive advantage.
• Businesses can use their marketing influence to shift consumer
behavior toward a lower-consumption, sustainable pathway.
Companies are realizing this and starting to develop business
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models based on longevity and reuse rather than rapid and

environmentally unsustainable consumption.
Rent the Runway, an online clothing rental service, allows
consumers to lease clothes rather than purchase them.
• One route to large-scale change is through a cycle of mutually
reinforcing positive action, where governments and businesses
drive one another to ever-higher climate goals which is described
well in a report "ambition loop."

A good example of an ambition loop in action is in Europe, where

leaders from business and government have been pushing one
another for years, ratcheting up climate ambitions over time.
A forward path proposed by The Global Commission on the
Economy and Climate says; we can build a better, more people-
centred, more resilient growth model by accelerating structural
transformation in five key economic systems:
• Clean energy systems: The decarbonisation of power systems
combined with decentralised and digitally-enabled electrification
technologies can provide access to modern energy services for the
billion people who currently lack it; strengthen energy security
and reduce exposure to energy price volatility globally; build
overall system resilience to increasing natural hazards (especially
in vulnerable, small island states); and cut the costs of outdoor
air pollution worldwide.
• Smarter urban development: Better urban planning and
strategic infrastructure investment, particularly the expansion of
public and non-motorised transport networks, can overcome
bottlenecks to economic growth – such as congestion and air

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pollution – for more liveable cities. More compact, connected, and

coordinated cities are worth up to US$17 trillion in economic
savings by 2050 and will stimulate economic growth by
improving access to jobs and housing. They can strengthen
resilience to physical climate risks and could deliver up to 3.7
gigatonnes per year of CO2e savings over the next 15 years.
• Sustainable land use: The shift to more sustainable forms of
agriculture combined with strong forest protection could deliver
over US$2 trillion per year of economic benefits; generate
millions of jobs, mainly in the developing world; improve food
security including by reducing food loss and waste (a third of all
food produced is lost or wasted along the food chain); and deliver
over a third of the climate change solution. At the same time,
restoration of natural capital, especially our forests, degraded
lands, and coastal zones, will strengthen our defences and boost
adaptation to climate impacts, from more extreme weather
patterns to sea-level rise.
• Wise water management: Today, 2.1 billion live without readily
available, safe water supplies at home, and 4.5 billion live
without safely managed sanitation. There are enormous
opportunities to curb these impacts by using water better,
whether through deployment of improved technology (from drip
irrigation to remote sensors to water-efficient crops), planning
and governance, use of water prices with targeted support to the
poor, or by investing in public infrastructure. Today, poorly
managed and often under-priced water results in the over-use
and misallocation of resources across the economy. Addressing
the water-energy-food nexus will be critical, particularly in
increasingly water-stressed regions.
• A circular industrial economy: From 1970 to 2010, annual
global extraction of materials grew from almost 22 to 70 billion
tonnes. Each year, at least eight million tonnes of plastics leak
into the ocean, contributing to a major new challenge for the 21st
Century. Microplastics have been discovered in 114 aquatic
species, many of which end up in our dinners. This challenge,
however, is not just a social or environmental issue; it is also
economic. Today, 95% of plastic packaging material value—as
much as US$120 billion annually—is lost after first use. Policies
which encourage more circular, efficient use of materials
(especially metals, petrochemicals and construction materials)
could enhance global economic activity, as well as reduce waste
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and pollution. Shifting to a circular industrial economy,

combined with increasing efficiency and electrification, including
for hard-to-abate sectors and heavy transport, could decouple
economic growth from material use and drive decarbonisation of
industrial activities.
Some Initiatives undertaken for fighting climate change are as
follows:
• Since 2010, over 470 companies have made commitments to
eliminate deforestation from their supply chains, covering, for
example, approximately 65% of global palm oil production.
• Capital markets have woken up to the opportunity of this new
growth approach, and the risks of business-as-usual growth.
More than 160 financial firms responsible for over US$86 trillion
in assets have committed to support the recommendations of the
TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures).
• Leading companies are seizing the opportunities of this new
approach: over 450 companies across all major sectors have
committed to setting science-based targets in line with the Paris
Agreement, with more than 120 targets already established.
• One hundred and forty of the world’s most influential companies
already committed to 100% renewable energy (RE100), 20 major
multinationals committed to 100% electric vehicle fleets (EV100).
Global Commission calls upon economic decision-makers in the
public and private sectors to take the following actions immediately:
• Governments should put a price on carbon and move toward
mandatory climate risk disclosure for major investors and
companies. Implemented together, these two actions would
provide the strongest, clearest signal to market participants that
policy-makers are committed to a new growth approach.
• All major economies should phase-out fossil fuel subsidies and
harmful agricultural subsidies and tax-breaks by 2025, with
others doing so as soon as possible, and use some of the
revenues saved to provide better-targeted support to tackle
energy poverty and ensure more sustainable food and land use
systems.
• Companies and investors should be required, as a matter of good
corporate practice, to disclose their climate-related financial risks
and how their business strategy is compatible with the Paris
Agreement.

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• All economies should place much greater emphasis on investing

in sustainable infrastructure as a central driver of the new
growth approach.
• This includes better designed buildings, transport, energy and
water systems, and cities but also investments in the natural
infrastructure that underpins our economy, such as the forests
and wetlands that purify water and provide valuable flood
control.
• By 2020, all Fortune 500 companies should have science-based
targets that align with the Paris Agreement. Shifting their brand
and marketing to products that are climate positive will engage
consumers as active agents of the solution.
Companies and investors are ready to advance on this agenda, but
they cannot get there on their own. Current regulations,
incentives and tax mechanisms are a major barrier to
implementing a low-carbon and more circular economy. For
example, they slow-down the penetration of new building
materials in construction activity. In agriculture, they subsidise
the application of too much mineral fertiliser, diverting
innovation activity away from more sustainable forms of
farming. They make it cost-competitive to deploy single-use
forms of plastic packaging, contributing to the plastics crisis we
are now seeing in the oceans. They make it hard to design
products in a way that maximises component reuse. Along with
getting carbon pricing right, we also need to tackle a host of
other policies which are protecting the old inefficient, polluting
economy.
If managed well, the low-carbon transition offers the potential for
new opportunities and more equitable growth.
Successfully diversifying local economies as we shift away from coal
and eventually other fossil fuels will require multi-stakeholder
dialogue, strategic assistance, re-training, and targeted social
protection.
There are multiple examples of areas previously reliant on
industrial or mining activities that are now seeing new growth as a
direct result of repurposing the assets, networks and capabilities of
the old economy. Better food and land use systems can deliver vital
jobs, better incomes, and more inclusive growth to disadvantaged
rural communities.

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WWee ccaan n eelliimmiin naattee eexxttrreem mee ppoovveerrttyy,, pprreevveen ntt ddaan nggeerroou uss
cclliim
maattee cch haan nggee,, aanndd iimmpprroovvee tth hee lliivveess aan ndd lliivveelliih
hooooddss ooff
mmiilllliioon
nss.. B
Bu utt oonnllyy iiff w
wee sseett oou
utt ttoo ddoo ssoo ddeecciissiivveellyy n
nooww.. T Th hiiss
iiss nnoott jjuusstt aabboou utt aavvooiiddiinngg aa ffuuttu urree w wee ddoo n noott w waan ntt.. IItt iiss
aabboou utt ccrreeaattiin
ngg tthhee ffuuttu
urree tthhaatt w
wee ddoo w waan ntt..
Concusions

Coal offers the largest emissions reductions for the least loss in
financial value:
• Transitioning away from coal can achieve 80% of the needed
emissions reductions for just 12% of the asset value at risk.
• Reducing the cost of financing renewable energy plants can
significantly lower the cost of transition across the world.
• Gas can be a bridge fuel for some regions till 2030. This is
particularly true for China and India but to limit loss in asset
value, global usage of gas would need to decrease after this time.
• A circular economy (CE) is one in which products and materials
are recycled, repaired and reused, and in which waste from one
industrial process becomes an input into another. The concept is
fast becoming a new model for resilient growth and low-carbon
development.
Here are five ways the world can shift to a low-carbon growth path:
1. Put a price on carbon
Requiring companies to pay for the carbon they put into the air
encourages them to invest in cleaner energy and low-carbon
innovation. Putting a price on carbon would unleash market
forces in the fight against climate change.
2. Phase out fossil fuel subsidies
Now is the time to phase out fossil fuel subsidies that encourage
waste and discourage low-carbon growth. Nearly $550 billion
went into direct fossil fuel subsidies worldwide in 2013.
Evidence shows that fossil fuel subsidies don’t benefit
the poor as much as the rich. Studies show the wealthiest
20% of the population captures six times the benefit from fossil
fuel subsidies as the poorest 20%. The savings from removing
fuel subsidies can be reinvested where they are most needed,

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 Centre for Fuel Studies and Research

including health, education, and other areas that benefit the

poor.
3. Encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy
About 1.2 billion people worldwide don’t have access to
electricity. Renewable energy development will be critical to close
this energy-access gap sustainably. Energy efficiency
improvements are also crucial to reduce emissions. Every
gigawatt saved is a gigawatt (More due to T&D Losses) that
didn’t have to be produced.
4. Build low-carbon cities
Cities are growing fast, particularly in the developing world. More
infrastructure is likely to be built in the next 20 years than in the
past 6,000 years. There is an opportunity to build cities in ways
that avoid locking in unsustainable patterns, while opening up
access to jobs and opportunity for the poor.
5. Enable climate-smart agriculture
Agriculture, forestry and other land use contributes just under a
quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. Climate-smart agriculture
techniques can increase crop yields, strengthen farmers’
resilience to climate change – and reduce net emissions through
healthy soil and vegetation that serves as a carbon sink.
Advances in science and technology have produced next
generation, decentralized energy solutions transformational
enough to quickly connect the unconnected and move people to a
new level of economic potential.
Renewable energy and electrification alone deliver 75% of
emission reductions.
Electricity would progressively become the central energy
carrier, growing from a 20% share of final consumption to an
almost 50% share by 2050, and renewable power would be able to
provide the bulk of global power demand (86%) economically. As
a result gross electricity consumption would more than double.
The transition to increasingly electrified forms of transport and
heat, when combined with the increases in renewable power
generation, can deliver around 60% of the energy-related CO2
emissions reductions needed to set the world on a pathway to
meeting the Paris Agreement. When these measures are combined
with direct use of renewable energy, the share of the emissions
reductions from these combined sources reaches 75% of the total
required.

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