New Delhi: Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab were the best performing states when it came to energy security, accessibility and environmental sustainability, according to a newly-designed index, launched by the Niti Aayog Monday to track India’s progress in the climate and energy sector.
The index – called the State Energy & Climate Index-Round I – ranked states and Union Territories on the basis of six criteria: DISCOM’s performance, access, affordability and reliability of energy, clean energy initiatives, energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, and “new initiatives”, such as electronic vehicle penetration and availability of charging infrastructure.
The government think tank’s report said it was “the first index that aims to track the efforts made by states and UTs in the climate and energy sector”.
“Under cooperative and competitive federalism, ranking the state’s initiatives can play an important role to improve performance. Rankings will be useful for policymakers and the state authorities in identifying the leaders and the laggards in the energy sector, and fine-tuning the policies to promote better energy deployment,” it stated.
Speaking at the launch, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that he hoped the index will “initiate dialogue” and “address policy gaps” that are preventing the sector from achieving its goals.
India had outlined several energy targets at COP26 in Glasgow last year, including the pledge to install 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity and fulfill 50 per cent of its energy requirements through renewable sources. As of 2021, India had installed 100 GW of renewable energy.
“Synergy and partnership among the Centre and the states will be critical for achieving energy and climate-related goals and making the country self-reliant in the energy sector,” said Dr V.K Saraswat, member, Niti Aayog, adding, “several key parameters have been identified to track and rank the performance of the states in this report”.
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How states performed
The six criteria are further divided into 27 indicators, and states are ranked out of a maximum of 100 points. States with a score of 46 or higher are considered “front runners”, those getting between 36 and 46 are “achievers”, and those with 36 and below are termed “aspirants”.
At the national level, India scored an overall of 40 points. Chandigarh scored the highest, at 55.7 points, and Lakshadweep the lowest, at 26.9 points.
Gujarat (50.1), Kerala (49.1), and Punjab (48.6) scored the highest among the “larger” states. Subsequently, Jharkhand (35.2), Madhya Pradesh (32.6) and Chhattisgarh (31.7) got the lowest points in the same category.
Apart from Chandigarh, the high performing Union Territories were Delhi (55.6) and Daman and Diu (53.2). Among the smaller states, Goa (51.4) and Tripura (45.0) performed the best while Arunachal Pradesh performed the worst (27.0).
Chandigarh and Tripura performed the best in terms of environmental sustainability and new initiatives.
“State governments need to prioritise policies to facilitate inclusive growth by providing affordable, accessible, reliable, and sustainable energy to the citizens,” the report stated. “While India may possess a conducive environment and energy-related policies; it is not necessarily translating into transforming the sector,” it noted.
India’s performance on other indices
At an international level, India’s ranking indices varied depending on assessment parameters.
In the World Energy Trilemma Index, which looked at energy security, energy equity, environmental sustainability and country context dimension (macroeconomics, governance and institutional conditions), India ranked 75th out of 127 countries. India stood at 87th rank among 115 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Energy Transition Index, which focused on sector performance and energy transition.
India performed better on indices that looked at investments in the renewable energy sector. In the Ernest and Young Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index, India was placed in the third position. It has also remained among the top 10 countries in the Climate Change Performance Index, which assesses climate protection performance.
However, India is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
(edited by Monami Gogoi)
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