Climate change: Look beyond the doom and gloom

Not a day goes by without apocalyptic predictions of climate disaster.

- SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR

The COP27 summit in Egypt re-iterated sundry climate targets while independent analyses oozed gloom and doom. The Economist had a cover story titled "Goodbye to 1.5 degrees," groaning that the race to limit warming was already lost. Others highlighted worst-case scenarios of 4-degree temperature increases.

Yet the technical and financial problems have fundamentally been solved. Renewable technologies are already cheaper than those based on fossil fuels, and global markets provide trillions of dollars across borders for viable projects. Technical innovation is in its infancy and huge improvements are expected. Scaling-up issues are formidable but are not fundamental.

The bid cost of renewable power in India once touched a low of Rs 1.99/unit. Later, a 40% import duty on solar modules and rupee depreciation raised renewable power costs.

Yet new renewable projects are coming up at Rs 2.50-2.75 per unit, whereas new coal-based projects cite Rs 4/unit or more.

Wind and sunshine are intermittent, so renewable plants function at barely 25% capacity. Massive, expensive storage is required to even out fluctuations. Major transmission lines are required to move renewable power from areas with excellent sunshine and wind to distant consumers.