Context: 

In the upcoming G20 forum, India is planning to propose a multiple energy pathways approach to accommodate the diverse contexts and development trajectories of countries.

• The diversity of India’s States, which necessitates multiple pathways, will determine its own domestic energy transition. 

What is energy transition?

• The energy transition is a continuing process requiring long-term energy strategies and planning, with a country-tailored focus on applying appropriate energy technologies to reach net-zero emissions.

India’s global climate pledges:

• 50% non fossil electricity generation capacity by 2030
• Net ­zero emissions by 2070 
• Installing 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity
• Reducing the emissions intensity of its economy by 45%
• Reducing a billion tonnes of CO2

Importance of States in energy transition:

• Spheres of implementation: 
  • States are critical to the realisation of national targets as they are the implementation agencies.
  • While the Centre may set goals the realisation of these goals often depends on how they are aligned with State priorities and capabilities. 

• State political economy: 
  • The legacy issues in the electricity sector, such as high losses, unreliable supply and service quality, if left addressed, could be exacerbated by the transition. 
  • These are embedded in the State political economy and must be addressed at the State level. 

• Laboratories of policy innovations: 
  • States as laboratories of policy innovations have been instrumental to India’s energy transition. 
    • For example: PM KUSUM is an adoption of successful State experiments on the solarisation of agriculture at a national scale.

• Aligning national and state goals: States could also be roadblocks to national goals, particularly when the goals are perceived to be misaligned with State priorities.
• Regionally balanced energy transition: 
  • Currently, only Gujarat, Karnataka, and Rajasthan met their individual renewable energy targets. 
  • Moreover, about 80% of the current renewable energy capacity is confined to Six states in the west and south of India.

Central mandates to states for coordination:

• Update the State Action Plans on Climate Change.
• Set up State Level steering committees for energy transitions.
• Regular meetings of the Central and state energy ministers. 

Importance of a State Level framework for an energy transition:

• It will help to broaden the transition discourse from a narrow set of outcomes and to include the processes that shape the outcomes. 
• It would lead to better understanding of the effects of transitions on transparency and accountability in processes, and affordability and reliability of services, particularly what works under what conditions. 
• It will lead to greater transparency which could enable participation of stakeholders in the processes and ensure public legitimacy and buy­in to complex decisions. 
• Seeing the energy transition through State preparedness would create a greater sensitivity to State Level diversities on priorities, capacities, and opportunities in the national policy discourse.
• It will enable more evidence based policy choices towards a pragmatic, yet accelerated, scale and pace of energy transition.

Measures for the meaningful participation of states:

• Multidimensional engagement: Centre should engage with diverse State contexts, capabilities, and priorities, availability of techno-economic options, fiscal space, and social and political imperatives of different States.
• Holistic policy discourse: Cross sectoral inter­linkages should be recognised in the policy discourse. 
  • For example, analysing how electric vehicle penetration and urbanisation will affect energy demand patterns or how promotion of transport modal shifts and green buildings can enable the energy transition.
• An effective transition will require bridging the ambitions and implementation gaps between the Centre and the States. 
• Simultaneously, national ambitions need to factor the varying incentive structures, processes, and institutional capacities at the State level.

News Source: The Hindu