NITI Aayog unveils roadmap for cutting emissions in cement, aluminium, MSME sectors

New Delhi: NITI Aayog on Wednesday unveiled a roadmap for the decarbonisation of aluminium, cement, and MSME sectors in India as the nation goes in for a massive expansion of industry and infrastructure to achieve the Viksit Bharat Goal of $30 trillion.

CEO NITI Aayog, B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, said: “About a year and a half ago, we established the Green Transition, Energy, Environment, and Climate Change division at NITI Aayog. Previously, NITI had no division focused on climate change or the green transition, so we built it from scratch. Today, it is the largest division in NITI, with close to 50 professionals. The team includes PhDs, MBAs, and subject experts. Given its size and depth, it is probably one of the most intellectually robust sources of knowledge in the country.”

The roadmap highlights that the projection for 2047 would involve a fourfold increase in the production of cement and a fivefold increase in aluminium output. The industry sector contributes 24 per cent of national GHG emissions, which have to be reduced considering India’s climate commitment — Net-Zero by 2070 and a 45 per cent emission intensity reduction by 2030.

The current cement production is 390 million tons (MT), which is projected to surge to 1743 MT in 2047.

The GHG emissions from cement, which are presently 246 Mt CO2e or 6 per cent of India’s total, are projected to go up to 45 Mt CO2e by 2047.

As part of the measures to cut emissions, the NITI Aayog roadmap suggests that increased usage of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) as an alternative fuel in the cement sector, increased usage of clinker substitutes in cement production, and carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) pilots for the sector.

The country’s current aluminium production is 5 million tonnes (MT) annually and is used for photovoltaic systems, grid connectivity, EVs, aerospace and marine, etc. India also exports: 40–50 per cent of primary aluminium

The GHG emissions in the aluminium sector are presently around 83 MT CO2e, which constitutes 3 per cent of India’s total GHG emissions. This is projected to rise to 376 MT CO2e by 2070.

While India’s average GHG emission is 20 tCO2/tonne of aluminium, the world average stands at 15 tCO2/tonne of Aluminium.

This poses a risk of future export restrictions due to high emission intensity, while India’s Net Zero pledge by 2070 has to be met.

The report points out that aluminium is a hard-to-abate sector in which electricity accounts for more than 75 per cent of emissions in the manufacturing process

It suggests that in the short-term till 2030, this power should be provided from renewable energy.

Among the policy options, it suggests a dedicated RE grid for the aluminium sector, dual Central Transmission Utility-State Transmission Utility (CTU-STU), and allowing conversion of CPP to an independent power producer (IPP)

For the medium-term (2030-2040), it views nuclear power as an option, while for the long-term beyond 2040, it favours Captive Thermal Power with CCUS.

The roadmap also identifies 69 million MSMEs in the country, which cover leather, textiles, paper, steel rerolling, foundries, chemicals and pharma for reducing emissions. These MSMEs account for a 45.7 per cent share of exports and 30 per cent of gross value added in India’s GDP. They account for 135 million tCO2, eq. (MTCO2e) of greenhouse gas emissions, which constitutes 3-4 per cent of India’s total emissions.

The roadmap suggests energy efficiency measures for small and medium enterprises, green electricity for micro units, and alternative fuels such as natural gas, which is a low-emission fuel. It sees scope for a 55-62 per cent emission reduction potential in the MSME sector across these three 3 key levers in the next 5 years.

The objective is to reduce specific energy consumption by at least 20 per cent by using energy-efficient equipment such as boilers, heat pumps, heat exchangers, rolling, milling and cooling devices. The roadmap favours giving viability gap funding of up to 15 per cent capital subsidy on eligible plant and machinery.

IANS