Energetica India Magazine May-June 2021

ENERGY EFFICIENCY Energy Efficiency and its Role in Our Path to Net Zero 42 energetica INDIA- May-June_2021 First, I’d like to unpack is the notion of “Net Zero emissions”. A situation where greenhouse gas emissions equal green- house gas removal. In practice, this would have to mean that the release of all the carbon that has been locked up for millions of years underground (through the burning of fossil fuels) plus all carbon emissions from deforestation, agriculture and other activities is com- pletely removed from the atmosphere by natural or manmade “Carbon Sinks”. Despite the recent feel-good stories about net-zero pledges, carbon capture and storage and green hydrogen the re- ality is humanity is very far from net zero emissions. As it stands, human activity releases approximately 9.4 gigatons of carbon per year (GtC/year) into the at- mosphere, the ocean (the largest carbon sink) absorbs 2.5 GtC/year land uptake which includes vegetation accounts for approximately 1.8 GtC/year. Humanity is currently adding an excess of 5.1 GtC/year into the atmosphere, for us to reach net-zero we will have to re- move more than half our current emis- sions on yearly basis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has defined scenari - os called “pathways” that forecast the impact that policy on energy use and greenhouse gas emissions will have on global temperatures. If things remain “as is” with no policy change, we will experience a 5 o C* in- crease in global temperatures by 2100, to put it in no uncertain terms this will lead to near-apocalyptic climate scenar- ios in many parts of the world. A more likely scenario is that there will be policy flip-flops with inconsistent en - forcement leading to a 3 o C increase in global temperatures by 2100, this will also be very bad especially for the glob- al south, with India paying a dispropor- tionately high cost. If you’re wondering what this looks like, consider the trauma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (experts consider the pandemic a global environmental disaster). This is an illustration of the im- pact that future climate catastrophes will have on a Populus, developing country like India. The most painful impact will likely not be because of individual cli- mate events but their fallout. Crop de- struction, droughts, floods, mass human displacement and extreme temperatures may push our inadequate public health and support infrastructure to the limit. At this point, the best-case scenario hu- manity can hope for is a global tempera- ture increase of or just below 2 o C, this will require us to achieve net-zero emis- sions by 2050 and deploy gigaton scale carbon capture and storage technolo- gies by 2060 for us to have any chance of staying below 2 o C, this scenario also includes more intense and much more frequent climate disasters than what we experience today, but as it stands this is our best possible outcome. *Source: Nature.com So, we’ve established that achieving Net Omer Basith Co-founder & CEO at Virtual Forest Despite the recent feel-good stories about net-zero pledges, carbon capture and storage and green hydrogen the reality is humanity is very far from net zero emissions. As it stands, human activity releases approximately 9.4 gigatons of carbon per year (GtC/year) into the atmosphere, the ocean (the largest carbon sink) absorbs 2.5 GtC/ year land uptake which includes vegetation accounts for approximately 1.8 GtC/year.