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ICT Can Reduce GHG Emission by 10 Percent
si Team
Monday, January 3, 2011
Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) solutions have the potential to reduce India’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 10 percent by 2030. According to a report this will result in energy cost savings of around Rs 137,000 crore per annum. India is presently the third largest emitter of GHG after China and the U.S. The report named ‘ICT Contribution to India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)’, attributed the maximum potential of saving of carbon dioxide emission to the construction industry with a whooping 42 percentage, followed by road transport with 30 percent while power sector came third with 16 percent. The NAPCC was released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2008 as part of the nation’s strategy to manage GHG emission.

The report by the Digital Energy Solutions Consortium India (DESC) and CII-ICT Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development investigated the possible GHG reduction opportunities via ICT solutions in three mitigation-related missions of NAPCC - National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), National Mission on Sustainable Habitat (NMSH) and National Solar Mission (NSM).

NMEEE has set targets to reduce 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission by 2015, of which 31 million tonnes reduction comes as a result of the adoption of ICT in buildings, transport and nine sectors under PAT (Perform, Achieve and Trade). This contributes to about 30 percent of the overall reduction. “Till date, no report in India has quantified the specific savings possible using ICT solutions. The report allows industries to quantify their potential energy as well as monetary savings by adopting ICT-based solutions,” said Rahul Bedi, DESC Chairman.

The high technology costs, inadequate energy benchmarks, weak regulatory norms on carbon emission standard and low research and development support are the main factors that are preventing the country from ICT adoption. The report recommends to create a platform for green jobs, undertake steps to develop ICT adoptions, rationalization of direct and indirect taxes, funds allocation, and to encourage research and development, as remedies to these ailments.
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