Parliament passes Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill,2022

Parliament passes Parliament passes Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill,2022, mandating use of non-fossil energy sources and carbon credit trading on Monday.

New Delhi:Parliament on Monday passed the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 bill seeking to mandate the use of non-fossil energy sources such as biomass, ethanol and green hydrogen.

The bill was passed in Rajya Sabha by a voice vote on Monday. Lok Sabha passed the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the previous session in August this year.

The Bill comprises penal provisions for violations by industrial units or vessels, and on manufacturers if a vehicle fails to comply with fuel consumption norms. The key objectives of the amendments is to promote and raise awareness about promote renewable energy and the development of a domestic carbon market to battle climate change.

The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 also aims at giving major boost to India's effort to achieve its international commitments on climate change. It aims to to introduce new concepts such as carbon trading and mandate the use of non-fossil sources to ensure faster decarbonisation of the Indian economy and help achieve sustainable development goals in line with the Paris Agreement.

Minister of New and Renewable Energy R K Singh responding to a debate on the Bill termed it as "environment friendly" adding that it will will allow carbon trading in the country. "For government, the environment is precious and will take all steps for that," he said claiming that India has now become a leader in the energy transition.

"We are also expanding the concept of green building. We are making it more sustainable. Earlier, it has energy efficiency and we are also adding the concept of renewable energy in this," Singh said.

The Minister said that at present 24 per cent of the energy consumption is from the housing sector adding that the Union Government has zeroed in on only major commercial establishments having a load capacity of 100KW.He also said that the State Governments have been given the authority to reduce the building load up to 50KW.