– India, Japan working on nuclear deal to boost 123 Agreement – 10 May 2010, BS
– N-liability Bill tabled in Parliament- 8 May 2010, BS
– N-liabilty trips on compensation – 11 Mar 2010, CCI
– Civil Nuclear Liability Bill: Efforts on to introduce it before PM’s US visit – 17 Mar 2010, BS
– PM forced to explain N-liability bill to Cong MPs – 17 Mar 2010, BS
– Is the nuclear bill a good idea? – 17 Mar 2010, BS
– Hasty govt retreat on nuclear liability cap Bill – 16 Mar 2010, BS
– Oppn fuses against N-liability Bill – 15 Mar 2010, ET
– Nuclear liability bill deferred at last minute – 15 Mar 2010, Hindu
– Govt avoids tabling Bill on N-liability – 15 Mar 2010, BS
– Nuclear family norms – 15 Mar 2010, IE
– Going blind on N-liability – 15 Mar 2010, LM
– Revisions in N-liability bill a must

 

 

Budget 2010 – how climate-friendly was it?

India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, announced the Union Budget for 2010-2011 in Delhi on 26 February 2010. With global attention on climate change and India having announced its own voluntary commitment to reduce emissions intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020, the question many were asking was: is the government going to put its money where its mouth is? The Minister’s speech signaled the government’s intention to transform India’s energy mix and meet the twin challenges of energy security and climate change. The Budget 2010 did contain some important announcements and initiatives – perhaps the most significant of which was the National Clean Energy Fund and the energy cess on coal (domestic and imported).

Here’s a look at some of the key measures:

Direct Funding

1. To establish a National Clean Energy Fund for funding research and innovative projects in clean energy technologies and harnessing renewable energy sources to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

2. A doubling of the budget for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) – largely to fund the Government’s flagship Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. (The Solar Mission has an ambitious target of reaching 20,000 MW of solar power by the year 2022, effectively making India a leading player in solar energy in years to come.)  MNRE’s budget rose by 61 percent – from Rs 620 crore in 2009-10 to Rs.1000 crore in 2010-11.

3. An allocation of Rs 200 crore for launching the Climate Resilient Agriculture Initiative. This seeks to sustain gains made in the green revolution but strengthen conservation farming, which involves soil health, water conservation and biodiversity preservation.

Tax Proposals

1. Clean energy cess on coal produced in India at a rate of Rs.50 per tonne. The cess will also apply to imported coal to build the corpus of the National Clean Energy Fund.

2. Concessional customs duty of 5 per cent on machinery, instruments, equipment and appliances etc. required for the initial setting up of photovoltaic and solar thermal power generating units and also exempt from Central Excise duty. Ground source heat pumps used to tap geothermal energy would be exempt from basic customs duty and special additional duty.

3. Exempt a few more specified inputs (some were already exempt in last year’s budget) required for the manufacture of rotor blades for wind energy generators from Central Excise duty.

4. Halve Central Excise duty on LED lights from 8 per cent to 4 per cent. This now places LEDs on par with Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs).

5. Provide concessional excise duty of 4 per cent to CSIR-developed ‘Soleckshaw’ – the solar version of a hand-pulled cycle rickshaw which runs on solar-powered batteries. The Soleckshaw’s key parts and components would also be exempt from customs duty.

National Clean Energy Fund and cess on coal

The National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF), a provisional title for this initiative, and the cess on coal are arguably the most interesting innovations in the budget. The former is intended to provide a source of investment for entrepreneurial ventures and research into clean energy technologies. The bulk of the funds for the NCEF are to be raised through a clean energy cess on coal produced in India as well as imported coal at a rate of Rs 50 per tonne. This cess on coal is not the first such ‘green tax’ to be applied in the India. The water cess has been levied and collected by the State Pollution Control Boards for prevention and control of water pollution for some time.

How large is the fund likely to be? The estimated demand for coal in India in the Budget period is likely to be 440 million tonnes (2010-11) and 518 million tonnes (2011-12) respectively. An extrapolation from this suggests that the size of the NCEF could be anything in the range of INR 22,000 million to INR 25,900 million respectively for FY 2010-11 and 2011-12. This will increase as India’s appetite for coal increases, but the revenues generated could build a core funding base for the Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

By making the tax environment less friendly for fossil fuel firms and by providing fiscal relief for companies in the renewable energy sector, the government has provided a helping hand. This is to be welcomed but will need to be built on aggressively if the scale of the ‘greening India’ challenge is to be met effectively. For now, though there is at least something for those in the renewable energy industry to capitalise on.

Looking across the Budget, it can be seen that energy security concerns and environment have been further embedded with some fiscal incentives and budgetary support for green measures. An allocation has been made for the Solar Mission but the remaining seven Missions of the NAPCC are still left stranded, and the mitigation and adaptation challenge faced by the country has been inadequately addressed. The Government has not made good on its promises to put budgets next to programmes.

For example, the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE) was supposed to be one of the two priority Missions in the NAPCC. The NMEEE is supposed to be implemented from April 1 2010. The Government says that it is aiming at building a market worth Rs 74,000 crore for energy efficient products and accrue avoided capacity addition of over 19,000 MW, however, no budget has been announced for this. One can only surmise that as the Ministry of Power will be overseeing the MNEEE, and as the Ministry of Power’s budget allocation has more than doubled from Rs 2,230 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 5,130 crore in 2010- 11, that we will see baseline funds for the MNEEE. But in the absence of clarity from the Government, this remains speculation.  

More worryingly, the status of the six other missions of the NAPCC continues to be in limbo. The table below provides an update of where things are presently at. (Budgetary updates 2010-11 have been indicated in square brackets.)

Status of NAPCC’s Eight Missions (February 2010) 

1.      Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission – Approved by Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change (PMCCC); to be coordinated by M/o New & Renewable Energy. [Funds approved in Budget 2010-11]

2.      National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency – Approved by PMCCC and to be implemented from 1 April 2010; to be coordinated by M/o Power.

3.      National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem – Draft dated 26 October 2009 approved by PMCCC in principle.

4.      National Mission on Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change – Final draft (15 October 2009) considered by PMCCC but decision unknown. 

5.      National Mission on Sustainable Habitat – Final Draft Mission document prepared by M/o Urban Development, under consideration by PMCCC.

6.      National Water Mission – Mission document prepared by M/o Water Resources, under consideration by PMCCC.

7.      National Mission for Green India – Mission document prepared by M/o Environment & Forests, under consideration by PMCCC.

8.      National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture – Mission document prepared by M/o Agriculture, under consideration by PMCCC.

 

Highlights of Union Budget 2010-11

Key green features of budget2010-11

India eyes millions in green funds from coal tax

Clean energy cess on coal to up power rates

Power sector to attract fresh investments

Market gives thumbs up to budget

India’s budget lacks environmental roadmap, say green groups

Power sector allocation more than doubled

Petrol and Diesel Prices increase in India

 

 

 

 

 

Television Coverage

• The man who exposed Pachauri’s IPCC

4th February 2010

• Glacier mistake cost us dear: Pachauri

3rd February 2010

• ‘IPCC should be diligent in its analysis’
• Pachauri refuses to apologise

2nd February 2010

• Pachauri blames global lobbies, there is no conflict of interest in the positions he holds as all matter in IPCC reports is in public domain, he says
• Govt also erred on glacier claims:The State of Environment Report 2009, a report put out by the Union government that is meant to be an up-to-date official view on environmental issues says that “…Himalayan glaciers could disappear in the next 50 years”
• ‘They can bend me, but they can’t break me’: Chairman of the Intergovenmental Panel for Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri in a wide-ranging interview with Samar Halarnkar and Chetan Chauhan, says he will continue battling global lobbies that refuse to accept planetary warming.
• `Global lobbies behind attacks on me: I stopped eating meat years ago, I never go to a shopping mall because I’m against these energy guzzling establishments. R . K . PA C H A U R I , IPCC chairperson

31st January 2010

• On thin ice
• One slip does not change the big picture 
• UN climate panel based claims on student essay: Report 
• Busy’ IPCC ignored erroneous Himalayan glaciers report

30th January 2010

• ‘Pachauri didn’t correct glaciers’ report despite being informed’

29th January 2010

• Climate Science Leader Rajendra K. Pachauri Confronts the Critics

24th January 2010

• Pachauri admits Himalayan blunder
• ‘It’s a mistake, but glacier melting is real’
• Hard times for climate scientists

23rd January 2010

• Did IPCC also get sea levels wrong?
• Raina demands apology for ‘voodoo science’
• Govt to setup climate panel

22nd January 2010

• Glaciologists defend IPCC
• Pachauri mum on Himalayan blunder

21st January 2010

• IPCC imperialism on Indian glaciers
• Glacier melts credibility of climate science
• West uses ‘glacier theory’ to flog India on climate change
• Pachauri: Only one error in a report of 1000 pages
• IPCC admits ‘Himalayan’ blunder
• Finding on Himalayas poorly substantiated: Climate panel

20th January 2010

• Still heating up
• Government contention vindicated: Jairam Ramesh
• IPCC did not consult me; relied on press interview: Hasnain
• Glaciologist demands apology from Pachauri for ‘voodoo’ remark
• Voodoo science, voodoo policy
• Climate panel’s glacier claims melting away
• Change climate change!
• IPCC ’07 report kept Govt in dark
• Misquoted, says man behind glacier goof up

19th January 2010

• UN body claim of Himalayan glaciers melting alarmist: Ramesh
• Glaciers will not melt by 2035: scientists
• Himalayan blunder indeed, admits WWF

18th January 2010

• Himalayan melting by 2035? Scientists just assumed so
• Himalayan glaciers won’t melt by 2035, says new finding
• World misled over glacier meltdown: Report