Amidst the growing energy needs and changing global climate landscape, the Government of India has identified new areas to achieve higher levels of penetration of Renewable energy by proposing certain Amendments to Energy Conservation Act, 2001. The objective will be to enhance demand for renewable energy at the end- use sectors such as Industry, buildings, transport etc. Ministry of Power has prepared amendments, after consultations with stakeholders. The proposal includes defining minimum share of renewable energy in the overall consumption by the industrial units or any establishment. There will be provision to incentivize efforts on using clean energy sources by means of carbon saving certificate.

India is proposing tweaks in its laws to make it mandatory for industrial units to use a minimum share of green energy in overall electricity consumption as the country seeks to move away from fossil fuels and fight climate change. Proposed amendments will facilitate the development of a carbon market in India besides prescribing a minimum consumption of renewable energy for industrial units, the government said in a statement Saturday. “The objective will be to enhance demand for renewable energy at the end-use sectors such as industry, buildings, transport,” and others, India’s ministry of power said in the statement, add adding that this may also facilitate the use of “green hydrogen” as an alternate to the existing fossil fuels.  Carbon saving certificates will also be given to spur companies toward clean energy sources. The statement did not specify the minimum use percentage that the government is planning to mandate.

Commerce and Industry Minister called for waiver of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in World Trade Organization (WTO) and dismantling new trade barriers in the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. In October 2020, India and South Africa had submitted the first proposal, suggesting a waiver for all WTO members on the implementation of certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in relation to the prevention, containment, or treatment of Covid-19. In May, a revised proposal was submitted by 62 co-sponsors, including India, South Africa, and Indonesia. The TRIPS agreement came into effect in January 1995.

Four greenfield industrial cities or nodes are being developed in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), and major trunk infrastructure works have been completed there, the commerce and industry said. In these cities, 138 plots (754 acres) have been allotted to companies with investment to the tune of more than Rs 16,750 crore, it said in a statement. Anchor investors in these cities/nodes include companies like HYOSUNG (South Korea), NLMK (Russia), HAIER (China), TATA Chemicals and AMUL.

The union authorities’ s efforts to hurry up electric vehicle adoption within the nation will get an enormous push with the standardization of charging infrastructure which is scheduled to be launched by the top of 2022. The unbiased organization Automotive Research Foundation of India (ARAI), Pune, is engaged on this. “For quick charging, the prototype is prepared and by December 2022, we’ll carry this to the market. However, we hope this may be achieved even earlier than that,” Minister for Heavy Industries, stated. He invited the industry stakeholders and policymakers from the important thing states to push electrical automobile adoption within the quick lane.