Major push for solar energy & EVs, little for climate change, forests

Despite a lot of expectations from environmentalists for the announcement of a ‘green expenditure’ fund or any other significant push related to the environment, forests and climate change, the Budget 2022-2023 has merely focused on giving a major push to key areas like solar energy and electric vehicles (EVs).

With a motive to boost the solar capacity in the country, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that about ₹19,500 crore will be allocated under Production Link Incentive (PLI) for manufacturing high-efficiency module for polysilicon. This is a high-purity form of silicon, which is a key raw material in the solar photovoltaic (PV) supply chain.

The finance minister has also taken a big step towards announcing a battery swapping policy with interoperability standards to address EV charging issues. On the pollution front, the minister has stated that action plans are ready to tackle issues such as electronic waste, end of life vehicles, used oils waste, toxic and industrial hazard waste.

Talking about the most contentious river-linking project – the Ken Betwa project – the minister has announced that the project will be implemented with an estimated budget of ₹44,605 crore. This is the first project under the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers and envisages transferring water from the Ken river to the Betwa river, both tributaries of the Yamuna.

Also read: FM pegs fiscal deficit for 2022-23 at 6.4% of GDP

The minister added that efforts will be made to irrigate 9.0 lakh hectares of farmland, to provide drinking facilities to 62 lakh people and for the generation of 103 MW hydropower and 27 MW of solar power, alongside the project.

As a step towards reducing the traffic congestion in the ecologically sensitive hilly areas, a ropeway development programme will be introduced and a total of eight ropeway projects will be taken under the ‘Parvat Mala’ scheme. These projects will be carried out as a public-private partnership and are expected to give a push for tourism.

The financial support will be provided to the farmers who like to take up agro-forestry. As an act of saving the carbon dioxide emissions by 38 MMT every year, 5 to 7 per cent of biomass pellets will be used in thermal power stations.

The budget also said that sovereign green bonds will be issued in public sector projects to mobilise resources for green infrastructure. The proceeds will be deployed in public sector projects which help in reducing the carbon intensity of the economy and and thereby reduce the carbon footprint.