CB BureauIn a significant development at
the environment protection and resources conservation front, the government has
approved National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency.
The mission is expected
to save 23 million tonne oil equivalent of fuel and avoid the need to build
additional capacity of over 19,000MW. This is one of
the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change.
Speaking after the Cabinet approval, the secretary,
ministry of power said, ‘In the next four years, the mission will help achieve
greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 98.55 million tonnes per year.’ The
mission will also kick-start the country’s first market-based trading in energy
efficiency savings. Just like the international carbon trade, a domestic trade
in energy saving certificates would facilitate this process.
Ajay Mathur, director general of the Bureau of
Energy Efficiency, who has also been designated the mission director said, ‘The
mission will help unlock the market for energy efficiency on a public-private
partnership (PPP) basis, which is estimated to be around Rs 74,000 crore.”
The larger industrial units in the key
fuel-guzzling sectors will be set targets to increase their efficiency levels.
They will be able to partly offset such targets under the certificates they buy
from those who have achieved beyond their designated targets. This is expected
to reduce the economy-wide costs of moving to a more energy efficient path.
Besides the efficiency-trading mechanism, the
mission also includes an Energy Efficiency Financing Platform, which will
provide fiscal tools in aid of projects that work to reduce demand of energy.
Alongside, the mission will develop two fiscal instruments to promote energy efficiency
– the Partial Risk Guarantee Fund and Venture Capital Fund for Energy
Efficiency.
CB bureau