23 February 2024

MAINS DAILY QUESTIONS & MODEL ANSWERS

Q1. India needs to shift its focus on long-term decarbonization and short-term energy security with its energy compass. Examine.

GS III – Environmental Conservation related issues

Introduction:

• Energy security is just as vital during this transitional period as climate sustainability is to India’s economic strategy. The energy transition will also have a significant impact on energy security, and the events that are transpiring in Ukraine serve as a grim reminder of this.
• As the world’s dependency on fossil fuels declines, clean energy looks to be the way of the future for meeting humanity’s power needs. The government must use deliberate measures to strike a balance between energy security and net-zero pledges because the path to sustainable energy is not an easy one.

Barriers to India’s Energy Security:

• By 2040, the nation’s energy consumption is expected to double, and its need for power may
• It is anticipated that the oil consumption of India will increase at a quicker rate than any other large economy, including China. For India’s economy, this means that increasing energy security must be a top concern.
• India’s oil consumption is predicted to increase from 4.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2017 to 6 million bpd by 2024; however, the country’s domestic output is only predicted to slightly increase, increasing its need on crude imports and increasing its susceptibility to disruptions in the Middle East’s supply.
• With an anticipated increase in oil refining capacity to 5.7 million bpd by 2024, refinery investment finds India to be a highly appealing market.
• Retail inflation is directly impacted by petrol prices. India’s freight expenses are 60–70% driven by diesel prices. All products see price increases as a result of high freight expenses brought on by rising diesel prices.
• India’s energy security is severely strained due to its growing reliance on imported oil, and geopolitical events have made the situation worse.
• Despite this increase in domestic coal production, stockpiles at coal-based thermal power plants were insufficient since the utilities were unprepared for the extraordinary heat wave brought on by climate change in the nation and the rapid spike in demand, which reached 201 gigawatts in April 2022.
• The crisis between Russia and Ukraine, which caused Europe to focus its emphasis on obtaining coal from South Africa, Australia, and Indonesia—three countries that had previously been key suppliers of coal to China and India—exacerbated the already rising demand for coal. The price of coal on the international market increased from $70 per tonne to $421 per tonne in March as a result of this reliance on the shared resource pool.
• Indoor air pollution is harmful to human health and is caused by burning conventional energy fuels such as wood, dung, and agricultural residue. In India, household air pollution (HAP) is responsible for almost one in every four premature fatalities that occur each year. Ninety percent of them are women who work in kitchens with little ventilation, near these fuels.

Maintaining energy security while adhering to its net zero pledges:

• Emphasis on Energy Efficiency: To reach the net-zero target, energy-efficient industrial processes, buildings, lighting, and appliances will be required.
• Increasing the use of biofuels can aid in lowering emissions from tractors used in agricultural and light commercial vehicles.
• Until hydrogen technology reaches a large enough scale, increasing the use of biofuels is the only viable way to reduce emissions in aviation.
• Shift to Electric Vehicles: This will contribute to reducing carbon emissions and utilising greener fuels. One of the main sources of GHG is vehicular emissions.
• Carbon Sequestration: In order to absorb such emissions, India will need to rely on both man-made and natural carbon sinks. Trees can sequester 0.9 billion tonnes of carbon; the rest will require carbon capture technologies around the nation.

Cost of Carbon:

• To encourage change, India, which currently levies coal and petroleum fuels, ought to think about taxing emissions as well.
• Using Low-Carbon Energy: Nuclear, solar, wind, and hydro power are the four primary forms of low-carbon energy. Since the first three employ renewable resources—like the sun and wind—to generate electricity, they are beneficial to the environment.
• Lower carbon energy deployment would simultaneously improve India’s citizenry’s economic standing and contribute to addressing global and domestic climate challenges.
• Mainstreaming Renewable Energy: Currently, coal-powered electric generating stations account for the majority of India’s energy mix.
• Increasing the proportion of renewable energy in this energy mix is urgently needed.

Final thoughts and future directions:

• Considering the significant changes occurring in India’s energy sector, it would be advantageous to evaluate our current course of action and concentrate on short-term adjustments.
• This would provide concurrent developmental benefits, like the growth of a thriving renewable economy, and enable us to meet and even exceed our 2030 target.
• Before making a net-zero pledge, we may begin setting up the institutions and policies required to steer us in the correct direction over the long run. We can also gain a deeper understanding of the ramifications of net-zero scenarios through modelling and other studies.
• Additionally, it would benefit India to tie any future commitment on the accomplishment of immediate action by developed nations.
• That would be just and in line with the UNFCCC’s principles. It would also make our own measures more feasible by, for instance, making new mitigation technology more widely available and less expensive.
• India’s trajectory towards decarbonised economic growth doesn’t seem to be reversible. This has been made abundantly evident by the most recent Union budget. Another opportunity that balances the challenge’s magnitude is present. The speed at which we move along that path will now depend on how it is executed.

Q2. What are Microplastics? What kinds of risks does they pose? Analyze the actions required to defeat these treats.  

GS III – Environmental Conservation related issues

Introduction:

• Microplastics are tiny particles of plastic found in the environment that are typically smaller than one millimetre, sometimes even smaller. The researchers say that their study is the first to incorporate data on microplastic contamination of snow after discovering enormous levels of them in the Arctic snow.
• A novel water filtration device designed by South Korean scientists can effectively and swiftly filter out microplastics. Most importantly, the polymer has outstanding photothermal characteristics, good adsorption performance, and is reasonably affordable.
• Microplastics can end up in the ocean due to land runoff containing paint, cosmetics microbeads, and textile washing microfibres. Larger bits of plastic, such as bags, food packaging, fishing nets, and bottles, can degrade into smaller fragments and end up in the ground, water, and air we breathe. A 2017 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) research estimates that up to 30% of marine trash that contaminates the oceans is made up of microplastics.

Risks associated with microplastics:

• Microplastics find their way into natural areas after evading waste water filtration and treatment procedures.
• Pollution of the maritime environment is having a major global impact on animals as a result.
• Fish are dying from microplastics before they reach reproductive age, and some fish are experiencing growth retardation and behavioural changes.
• The viscera of dead seabirds and reptiles, such as whales and turtles, contain microplastics.
• Large amounts of plastic are now not recycled and end up in landfills because coastal countries lack the necessary technological skills and recycling legislation.
• Because of their resilience, plastics are persistent in the environment and break down slowly enough to reach food systems.
• Both bioaccumulation and biomagnification are possible with it.
• Carcinogenic synthetic chemical substances like PCBs and PAHs are carried by microplastics into the food chain.
• In terms of international accords, plastic pollution has received less attention than POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) or CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons).
• Of the estimated 1.8 trillion bits of plastic in the patch, microplastics comprise 94%. However, that only represents 8% of the overall tonnage.

Actions required:

• In order to reduce plastic pollution, local governments must implement policies including plastic bag bans, daily emissions caps into watersheds, and rewards for retrieving lost fishing gear.
• Global bans on the use of microbeads in cosmetics and everyday items are necessary.
• Nations ought to band together to set quantifiable goals for reducing plastic waste. The world urgently needs a significant international agreement with well-defined targets for trash reduction.
• Policies that are effective must consider every phase of the plastic lifecycle, from producers to consumers and, eventually, waste managers.
• These days, nonprofits like 5 Gyres are advocating for corporate accountability, public awareness, and the circular economy, which focuses on minimising waste and optimising the use of resources.
• Subsidies for fossil fuels encourage the plastics industry. Therefore, nations ought to stop subsidising fossil fuels. Rough plastic requires 4–8% of oil each year to create.
• Plastics are a big issue in India, especially single-use shopping bags that end up in landfills, rivers, and wetlands with other debris.
• Limiting the manufacture and consumption of plastics is the most effective strategy to combat pollution.
• A reasonable option would be to outlaw single-use bags and charge more for larger, more durable bags.
• Enforcing trash segregation will help recover materials and lessen environmental impact significantly.
• Waste separation offers a significant job opportunity and can be accomplished in collaboration with the community.
• It is necessary to provide environmentally friendly alternatives (paper straws, leaves/areca leaf plates, cloth/paper/jute bags, etc.). Support from science and money in the form of soft loans and subsidies is needed for this.
• The “planetary crisis” of marine plastic waste calls for the creation of a global treaty like to the one in Paris. Our Earth cannot be changed into a “plastic planet.” The people must work together to prevent plastic pollution and protect our ecosystem and wildlife.