State Energy and Climate Index- UPSC Current Affairs

Enhance your UPSC exam preparation with our daily dose of knowledge in our Current Affairs Dialog box. In today's edition, we will talk about State Energy and Climate Index and its relevance to the CSE syllabus.

For Prelims: Global climate indices and India’s Ranking, State Energy and Climate Index, NITI Aayog.

For Mains: India's Contribution Towards Net Zero Carbon Emission, Panchamrit advocacy of five elements for climate change at CoP-26.

Why in the News?

• Recently, NITI Aayog launched the State Energy & Climate Index-Round I. 
• The index is based on 2019-20 data. 

Image Source: NITI AAYOG

Probable Question

Discuss the Panchamrit advocacy of five elements for climate change at CoP-26.

About the State Energy & Climate Index (SECI)

• The State Energy and Climate Index (SECI) is the first index that aims to track the efforts made by States and UTs in the climate and energy sector.
• Objectives: The objectives of the index are:
  • Ranking the States based on their efforts towards improving energy access, energy consumption, energy efficiency, and safeguarding the environment.
  • Helping drive the agenda of the affordable, accessible, efficient and clean energy transition at the State level.
  • Encouraging healthy competition among the states on different dimensions of energy and climate.
• The State Energy & Climate Index (SECI) Round I ranks the states’ performance on 6 parameters:
  • DISCOM’s Performance 
  • Access, Affordability and Reliability of Energy 
  • Clean Energy Initiatives 
  • Energy Efficiency 
  • Environmental Sustainability; and 
  • New Initiatives.
• These parameters have been devised keeping in mind India’s goals for climate change and clean energy transition. It is further divided into 27 indicators.

Also read: Green Initiatives for Effective Plastic Waste Management- UPSC Current Affairs

Key Findings

• Based on the composite SECI Round I score, the states and UTs are categorized into three groups: Front Runners, Achievers, and Aspirants.
• The states have been categorized based on size and geographical differences as Larger States, Smaller States, and UTs.
  • Larger States: Gujarat, Kerala, and Punjab have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger states.
    • Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were the bottom three States. 
  • Smaller States: Goa, emerged as the top-performing state in the smaller states category, followed by Tripura, and Manipur. 
  • UTs: Chandigarh, Delhi, Daman & Diu/Dadra & Nagar Haveli are the top performers.
• Punjab was the best performer in Discom performance while Kerala topped in the access, affordability and reliability category.
• Haryana was the best performer in clean energy initiatives among larger States and Tamil Nadu in the energy efficiency category.

Significance of the Index

• The best practices for all indicators in better–performing States can be adopted by other States to improve their performance. 
• The SECI will help States to understand their performance across multiple parameters/indicators.
• The performance of the States should be regularly documented and disseminated through mediums such as SECI to promote peer–to–peer learning.
• SECI provides us an opportunity to work closely on strengthening energy systems and energy data management which is the crux of every planning process and development. 
• It intends to create awareness among citizens in terms of energy and climate indicators and to initiate debate for better energy and climate-related services. 

Alsoo read: Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM): Year End Review 2022

Give an extra edge to your UPSC CSE preparation with our Prelims Booster series. Watch a detailed video on Global Risk Report 2021 & Food Price Index by Prem Sodhani Sir, our Current Affairs faculty:

India’s Performance in Global Energy Indices

India’s Climate Change Commitments

The Prime Minister of India at the COP-26 Glasgow summit presented five nectar elements, Panchamrit, to deal with climate change:

• India will reach its non-fossil installed electricity capacity to 500 GW by 2030.
• India will meet 50% of its electricity requirements from renewable energy by 2030.
• India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now onwards till 2030.
• By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by less than 45%.
• By the year 2070, India will achieve the target of Net-zero.

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