A new report released by India’s Minister for Steel, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan today highlights how India’s steel sector could lower its emissions by up to 55% by 2050 by embracing energy and resource efficiency, as well as new low carbon technologies.
The report was released at The Energy Resources Institute (TERI)’s World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS), currently underway at New Delhi. It is part of India’s long term strategies for low emissions growth pathways from 2020, which was announced at 2019’s G20 Summit in France.
The report finds that India’s steel demand would grow 5-fold between now and 2050 — reaching 500MT — but would come at the cost of a rise in the sector’s CO2 emissions by 35%. In absolute figures, they would rise from 242MT today to 843MT by 2050. This is equivalent to 35% of India’s total current emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion and industry emissions.
However, under an ambitious decarbonisation scenario, the emissions could be brought down to 55% below baseline emissions by taking advantage of collaborative projects on new technologies such as hydrogen.
TERI also estimates that per unit emissions from the sector could be lowered by 60% over today’s standards, while at the same time meeting the needs of a rapidly growing economy.
It’s important to note here that the report is not yet officially endorsed by the government, and is hence not a policy document. Nevertheless, it highlights clear pathways that could be adopted by the government into its low carbon growth pathways commitment.
Download the full report:
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