COP26 Summit: PM Modi sets 2070 deadline, here's how India could achieve zero carbon emissions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday surprised delegates at the COP26 climate summit with a bold pledge to cutting emissions at the world's third-biggest emitter to net-zero by 2070.

Here’s how India could reach net-zero with the deadline set by the Prime Minister.

Council on Energy, Environment and Water, says for India to reach its bold target of having net-zero emissions by 2070, the country's solar power capacity would have to rise to over 5,600 GW, coal use particularly in the power sector will have to drop by 99 per cent by 2060 and crude oil would need to peak by 2050 and fall substantially by 90 per cent in the two decades thereafter.

For net-zero, India will have to clean up the most coal-reliant of the world's biggest power sectors.

India is targeting about 450 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030 - about 280 GW-- which is over 60% -- and is expected from solar.

On Monday, Modi raised the 2030 target for renewable energy capacity to 500 GW from 450 GW and pledged to produce half the country's electricity using renewable energy.

India will also cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 1 billion tons from business as usual by the end of the decade.

To deliver on the 2070 goal, the country still has to lay out a detailed plan for the 40 years in between.

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