Greening through ICT Solutions

On December 14, 2010, the Digital Energy Solutions Consortium India (DESC India) and CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development released a report titled, ICT's Contribution to India's National Action Plan on Climate Change. The report explores potential GHG reduction opportunities via ICT solutions in the focus sectors of the three mitigation-related missions of NAPCC-National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), National Mission on Sustainable Habitat (NMSH), and National Solar Mission (NSM).

The report has analyzed various recommendation for the possible actions that can be taken while strategizing for increased ICT adoption. It recommends inclusion of ICT solutions as an enabler to meet emission reduction targets of the NMSH and NMEEE with specific targets for emission reduction. It also takes into account the fiscal incentives for facilitating adoption of ICT solutions like rationalization of direct and indirect taxes to initiate adoption and also for fund allocation for ICT uptake.

The joint effort by CII-DESC has also assisted in standardization and localization of ICT solutions and has delved deep into providing impetus to the sector by applying ICT for policy implementation. And other sector specific initiatives such as encouraging use of ICT in solid waste management, logistics, traffic management, etc.

“Till date, no report in India quantified the specific savings possible using ICT solutions. The DESC Report does precisely that, allowing industries to quantify their potential energy as well as monetary savings by adopting ICT-based solutions. The one-time high implementation costs will be amortized over a period of time, leading to a win-win solution for users as well as the nation. Users benefit via lower costs in the long run, while the nation benefits by moving closer to its carbon emission targets,” says Rahul Bedi, chairman, DESC India.

“This Report emphasises the urgent need to embed ICT in mitigating climate change in India, and calls for specific policy interventions to facilitate such embedding. The Report also provides 2020 and 2030 CO2 reduction scenarios, specific ICT solutions, and policy levers that go beyond fiscal incentives,” adds Seema Arora, principal counsellor & head, CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development.

The report also highlights the various hurdles in ICT adoption which includes high technology costs, inadequate energy benchmarks, weak regulatory norms on carbon emission standards, inadequate standardization, and low R&D support, among others. To overcome these, the Report recommends key actions while developing strategies for increased ICT adoption in the three missions which may include creating a platform for green jobs, undertaking steps to develop ICT skills, rationalization of direct and indirect taxes among many others.

The hurdles to successful implementation of ICT highlighted by the Report are :

Lack of financial mechanisms: Suppliers of ICT applications lack support for financing arrangements from lending organizations. The high cost of technology coupled with lack of finance leads to less investment in the development and distribution of these technologies.

Unavailability of energy benchmarks: Unavailability of baseline energy consumption data results in sub-optimal design of the energy efficiency solutions. In the absence of a dependable benefits computation, it becomes a major challenge for the adopters to build a strong business case for ICT adoption.

Weak regulatory norms for carbon emissions: The cost of not complying to the emissions reduction targets leads to a stronger business case for the implementation of newer technologies. In the absence of strong regulatory provisions on energy efficiency and emission standards, ICT adoption towards the same is unlikely to become a priority.

Said I Vijaya Kumar, co-chair, DESC India: “Analyzing demand as well as supply-side barriers, the Report lists specific remedies to promote large-scale implementation of ICT-based technologies. The insights and policy recommendations could help the government and industry to develop a strategic roadmap in overcoming barriers to ICT adoption and using ICT for climate change mitigation.”

Although ICT-based solutions can play a key role in India's transition to a high-energy-efficiency-low-carbon-emission economy, a conducive ecosystem for ICT adoption must first be developed. Targets for ICT solutions in key sectors should also be identified, such as Railways, Power Transmission and Iron & Steel. These three have more than 90% GHG emission savings potential in NMEEE mission sectors. Projected GHG emissions from NMEEE mission sectors would be about 1.55 bn tonnes CO2 in 2020 and 3.2bn tonnes CO2e in 2030. The Report points out that coal-based power will be the biggest emitter, accounting for nearly 60% of these emissions.

The report has focused not only in providing suggestions and action plans but has also made pragmatic recommendations to have a win-win situation for the economy and the environment.

Archana Singh
archanasi@cybermedia.co.in