EVENT RECAP: Roundtable Discussion on Council Report
Hosted under the Forum for Decarbonising Transport
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Hosted under the Forum for Decarbonising Transport •
Roundtable Discussion on ‘Path to Zero – Status and Vision for Decarbonising Transport in India’. Photo by WRI India
NITI Aayog in partnership with WRI India hosted a roundtable discussion — ‘Path to Zero – Status and Vision for Decarbonising Transport in India’, under the Forum for Decarbonising Transport on 5th September 2022. The discussion was chaired by Hon’ble Member NITI Aayog, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, and moderated by Dr. O.P. Agarwal, CEO, WRI India. The event concluded with an address from Mr. Parameswaran Iyer, CEO, NITI Aayog, to all the participants.
The roundtable brought together policy and research experts on one platform, for a deep-dive conversation on India’s vision, priority areas and pathways for a zero-emission transport sector, and NITI Aayog’s role in facilitating the achievement of this vision in coordination with the national ministries, state governments, private sector, and the research community. The conversation was framed by a presentation by the NDC-TIA Council (constitutes 14 recognized transport experts from the Asian region), which presented the findings of its report The Path to Zero: A Vision for Decarbonised Transport in Asia. Actionable recommendations suggested by the report for achieving an accelerated transport sector decarbonization include the following:
Implementing actions without a long-term vision and strategy risks higher costs later and stranded assets. It is essential that each country develops a long-term vision of a future mobility system in line with the country’s overall decarbonization strategy.
Emphasising the creation of a just and equitable transport system will help to ensure broad public support for the transition.
Additional support may be required for smaller businesses, as many of them lack the finance, skills and capacity needed to capture new opportunities arising from the transition to eMobility.
Transforming transport will not be possible without tackling freight. Shifting freight to rail, waterways and short-sea shipping is essential.
Promoting shared transport and active mobility while making individual motorized transport less attractive is essential.
Electrification of transport needs to be supported by avoid-and-shift measures to address congestion and safety concerns.
As transport sector demand grows, electricity needs to move towards the generation of renewable electricity.
A key element in policymaking is to create an economic framework that drives desired behaviour. Policy frameworks that continue to support unsustainable options need to be changed.
There is a need for a coordinated approach among different stakeholders to avoid fragmented policy making and to enable efficient and coherent pathways to decarbonization.
Data gathered by private entities that are valuable for policy decisions – such as data maintained by shared mobility providers – can be absorbed into public databases, given the passage of legal frameworks that preserve confidentiality.
Following this, NITI Aayog highlighted the policy and regulatory measures being implemented by India in tackling its transport sector emissions. As part of these efforts, the achievements and contributions of the NDC-TIA initiative received special mention. NITI Aayog also emphasized the significance of its enhanced NDC commitments, and the recently launched global Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) initiative, and the need to integrate transport decarbonization efforts as part of these wider movements. Dr. V.K. Saraswat presented research conducted by NITI Aayog’s sectoral experts, emphasizing the need for investment in R&D and manufacturing of alternate fuel technologies such as fuel cells, planned investment in charging infrastructure, transition to smart grid and development of local manufacturing (of batteries, motors, controllers etc.) capabilities and viability gap funding.
The ensuing roundtable discussion benefitted from a broad-based participation of key stakeholders from India’s transport ecosystem. Participating organisations included World Resources Institute India (WRI India), The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ-GmbH), GIZ India, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), SLOCAT, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), Ola Mobility Institute (OMI), International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), Integrated Research for Action and Development (IRADe), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), International Energy Agency (IEA), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), International Transport Forum (ITF), World Bank Group, Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and KfW Development Bank.
Dr. O.P. Agarwal initiated the discussion by highlighting the four pillars of transport decarbonization– fuel efficiency (meeting transport demand with less fuel), mode shift (shifting away from unclean modes to cleaner modes), moving to cleaner fuels and moving to shared mobility. Participants then provided their inputs on the key priorities to be considered, and effective approaches that may be followed, for moving India’s fast-growing transport sector towards development pathways for decarbonization.
Highlights and key takeaways from the discussion are given below:
There is a need to tackle hard-to-abate sectors such as road freight (including heavy-duty vehicle segment), off-road vehicles, shipping, civil aviation for transport decarbonization.
For the EV supply chain to be established in India, long-term direction and policy visibility are needed to gain industry as an active partner.
Behavioral change, to promote environmentally friendly transport behaviors among individuals, will be essential to bring about at-scale on-ground change and a paradigm shift in mindsets.
Transport sector interventions are needed at multiple levels, whereas they are currently focused on infrastructure; we need to design, fund, and implement projects at the micro-scale to drive an integrated and scalable approach.
With the announcement of India’s net-zero targets, the sequencing for transport sector actions should be strategic, with the prioritization of low-hanging early successes which can be built on to tackle trickier components.
There is a need for innovative financial instruments such as credit guarantees, viability gap funding, hedging etc. and a dedicated agency or vehicle that can raise dedicated funds for electric mobility from domestic as well as global sources.
A system level thinking is required to shift focus from isolated initiatives to achieving shift in the whole ecosystem. This can be achieved through a single coherent central agency that brings together all the aspects of the roadmap, policies, guidelines, financing etc., and provides a systematic approach to the transition.
Current efforts of transport decarbonization focus on urban mobility; rural mobility, despite its low contribution to transport emissions, is critical for considerations of equity and access, and requires a novel approach.
An avoid and shift approach is required to manage growing travel demand in the country’s 8,000+ cities and towns, with the use of efficient urban planning practices to design compact cities with robust non-motorized and public transport networks.
Mr. Parameswaran Iyer’s concluding remarks highlighted the importance of the transport sector in India’s emission reduction efforts. He also pointed out the need to bring a scalable approach to sustainable transportation pathways, including through programs focused on consumer behaviour, such as the Lifestyle For Environment (LiFE) initiative.
With India’s recently ratified enhanced NDC commitments of reducing the emissions intensity of GDP by 45% over 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2070, this timely roundtable discussion underscored the importance of a decarbonization roadmap for the transport sector, one of the highest and fastest-growing contributors to GHG emissions in India. It also aims to provide inputs to India’s upcoming G20 presidency, which presents an excellent opportunity for the country to demonstrate its continued global leadership on the energy transition, with the transport sector being the next frontier of ambitious action.
Learn more about this event on WRI India’s website (wri-india.org).
Watch on Youtube for Roundtable Discussion on ‘Path to Zero – Status and Vision for Decarbonising Transport in India’
