Green Signal to Post Covid Economy

Context:  Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that humankind has been on a path of unsustainable consumption, growth, and ecological degradation.

Environmental Impact of Lockdown

• Reduction in air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Increase in dissolved oxygen and reduction in nitrate concentration in Ganga and Yamuna.

Rebooting Economy while Preserving Environmental Growth

• Adopt renewable energy to sustain development: Nearly 74% of India’s energy demand is met through coal and oil, which are highly polluting.

• Government steps: doubling of renewable power capacity, solar parks, offshore wind policy, hydropower installations, biogas plants and green energy corridors, etc.

• The cultural shift towards more responsible transport and consumption patterns: like EVs, mass rapid transport systems, and pedestrian-friendly cities.

• Higher investments in the renewable energy sector: Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the renewable energy sector in India amounted to $6.84 billion between April 2000 and June 2018

• It will increase female participation in the workforce and reduce poverty. 
• Women represent 32% of the renewable energy workforce. --International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

• Encouraging manufacturing hub: 

• The target of one EV charging station every 3 km in cities and every 25kms on both sides of the highway can have a multiplier effect on employment.
• Expand Biofuel driven public transport programme: being experimented currently in Nagpur to the entire country.

• Adopt Zero-waste technologies in production: to convert waste into energy, organic fertiliser, and biofuels.

• Urban India generates 62 million tonnes of waste annually and is predicted to generate 165 million tonnes by 2030 due to pandemic.
• Innovative solutions: to tackle the problem of Medical waste like biodegradable PPE.
• Affordable and efficient sewage systems: to prevent water bodies from turning into cesspools of disease.

• Rapid transition to a circular economy: from the linear economy by focusing on repurposing, recycling, and reuse.

• National Resource Efficiency Policy in 2019, aims to achieve a 100% recycling and reuse rate of PET plastic by 2025. 
• Encourage smart use of enzyme technology: to treat industrial and domestic waste and repurpose them for productive use.

Conclusion:  Transition to a green economy, requires adopting current good practices at a much larger scale, and find new and innovative ways of thinking and working.