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Value of the Sun

Distinctly different are the signals that have been emitted for India during the climate conference in Marrakesh.  The positive feature…

Value of the Sun

Distinctly
different are the signals that have been emitted for India during the climate
conference in Marrakesh.
  The positive
feature is that the country’s initiative in the solar energy segment has been
recognised.
  However, it is somewhat
distressing to reflect that while greenhouse gas emissions have since 2015 been
fairly stable in the USA and China, the level is yet to be contained in India.
In real terms, there has been little or no effort to tackle the potential
pollutants and the gradual environmental degradation in the wider canvas.

The
international research consortium’s report, that has been presented at the high
table, has noted that emissions in India have risen by 5.2 per cent in 2015 — up
from an average of 6.4 per cent between 2005 and 2014. The data needs to be
addressed with the seriousness that it deserves not least because India has
recently ratified the Paris agreement, concluded last December. 

Fears
that “India could take over from China in driving global emissions in the next
decade” are not wholly unfounded. Much will hinge on how fast the renewable
energy programmes attain fruition, most importantly the plan to instal 100,000
MW of solar energy by 2022. Contextualised with this vital imperative, the
International Solar Alliance — conceived by Narendra Modi and headquartered in
Delhi — has in the Moroccan capital graduated to an “international and
inter-governmental treaty” under the auspices of the UN.

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In
league with India, France, Brazil, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Fiji and Tanzania are
among the 26 countries that have signed the “framework agreement” for the
Alliance. This is higher than the stipulated condition that at least 15
countries must concur.  Ergo, the treaty
on the Alliance is certainly a forward movement in terms of geostrategy on an
issue that impacts the Earth.

Specifically,
it seeks to build a “common platform for cooperation among sun-rich countries
lying fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn”.

The
value of the Sun as the primary source of clean energy has happily been
recognised. Considering the pollution caused by coal-based power, the use of
solar energy on a far wider scale can reduce the dependence on fossil fuels,
and in the case of India and certain Western powers curb the earth-warming and
greenhouse gas emissions. 

Having
launched the initiative, it now devolves on India to accord uppermost priority
to the construction of solar plants. Judging by the yardstick of conservation
and improvement of the quality of the air, the Marrakesh round can be said to
have achieved a milestone and in a fairly short span of time — eleven months
after Modi had announced the concept.

The
progress is concordant with India’s endorsement of the Paris agreement.

–Editorial 

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