Blog: Sustainability in India

India is one of the key countries when it comes to sustainability and the 1,5 degrees Paris agreement. Being the world’s third-largest energy consuming country, with 80 per cent of demand met by coal, oil and biomass, India will be among the top emitters in many years going forward. Millions of Indian households are set to buy new appliances, air conditioning units and vehicles. Rapid growth is also expected in real estate, infrastructure, and other areas of construction.

The World Air Quality Report for 2020 ranked India as the 3rd most polluted country in the world after Bangladesh and Pakistan. Of major cities, Delhi is the most polluted globally.  The Global Climate Risk Index 2021 based on the impact of extreme climate events like storms, floods and heat waves on a country and its economy ranked India as the 7th worst affected country.

These issues have lead India to commit to change, as that is the only way to improve. The different issues are ranked in the Sustainable Development Report 2021, where the key is to improve overall development indicators across environmental, social and governance criteria. India is ranked at 117, out of 165 countries. Of the SDG’s, the scores are mixed, both by individual SDG’s and between the different states.

The best performing SDGs of India is SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities).  The two which is marked in red of figure 1, is SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDG 5 (gender equality). It is a way to go, but changes in India is happening at a rapid speed.

When you consider the different states as given in figure 2, it is a tendency that the states of the south is performing somewhat better. In addition, a number of the north-east states is sub-par. Education and economy is two keywords for the differences.

Figure 2 – SDG performance of India 2020, per state and territories

Since 2014 India have had a large focus on increasing the “Ease of doing business” in the country. It can not be directly found in the SDG-scores, but when considering the G (governance) in ESG it is very relevant. From 142nd place in 2014, India is at 63rd spot in 2020. Since 2014, the Government of India has improved the existing regulations and processes, and eliminated unnecessary requirements and procedures. Delivery of government services has been improved in several areas to help businesses grow. For some parts of India’s business, it has been quite painful, but on the long term it is preparing India for larger growth. Examples of regulations and reforms have been:

• The Aadhaar card
• GST
• Demonetisation
• Infrastructure reforms
• Bankruptcy reform
• Make in India Initiative
• Start-up India Initiative
• Digital India initiative
• Privatization of state-owned companies
  • In progress > E.g. Air India, Life Insurance Corp,

Of other key issues to mention, India’s focus on renewable energy is ever increasing, and the country is ranked 3rd on the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI). India have set a target to achieve 175 GW of renewable energy by end of 2022, and 450 GW by 2030. This is the largest planned expansion in the world. 

Solar and wind is the main focus of India’s future renewable plans. As of June 2021, the country had an installed capacity of 141 GW renewable energy, where 41 GW is solar and 39 GW is wind.  Large hydro is about 52 GW.

India has taken steps to control plastic pollution, including a total ban on single-use plastic and strengthening extended producer responsibility. India has also committed to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

Source:

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/speech/business-sustainability-opportunities-india

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1723952