Editorial: The Future is Here
THE FUTURE IS HERE, WELL, ALMOST!
Green Mobility Promises a Better World
Our collective environmental consciousness has never been better. Key concepts like carbon footprints or AQI are well understood even by school children. And yet, the demand for bigger, bulkier SUVs is shooting up. We appreciate that car-pooling is great for our future but we prefer to drive alone. This urban paradox is a perfect indicator of what ails our environment.
When we buy a bulky SUV, we visualise a cross-country cruise for the family but in reality, it ends up shuttling us between home and office. This means that we buy our vehicles according to our imagined, rather than real, requirements. In any case, our hypocrisy, is breathtaking. But that said, can something be done to follow our hearts without the guilt? This is why we love the idea of electric vehicles (EVs) or cars run on alternative fuels.
Our sense of hope is not vacuous. It opens up an impressive array of possibilities. The potential fuels vary from electricity to hydrogen cell and anything between natural gas and bio-diesels. This also makes it possible to drive our dreams without harming the environment. The early signs are visible in the astounding success of Tesla in the US. It is not uncommon to find electric cars zipping on the Indian roads. Soon enough, we can foresee trucks and even ships running on green fuels.
So, does that mean the end of the fossil fuel? Well, not yet, but we are definitely heading that way. While we do not treat our coal power plants or the diesel vehicles as dinosaurs as yet, a decisive beginning has been made in the direction of renewables. We can safely say that our world is in the middle of energy transition. For sure, things will be messy and disruptive in the beginning but the end product would benefit humanity. We are moving towards new standards of innovation, talent, and global cooperation.
A future defined by clean energy also means a break from the tensions of geopolitics of oil and gas and a huge relief for the oil-dependent economies. We have all witnessed how the energy crisis created by the Russian aggression in Ukraine has brought new tensions and pushed even secure economies of Europe into tailspin. For the poorer countries, it has brought mega inflation and food crisis. Clean energy, let us hope, will transform geopolitics of fuels into something more amicable and climate-friendly.
However, in our euphoria, we could be skipping some hard realities. The first and foremost is the real environmental costs of the new technologies driving EVs. How can we call them clean when they are run on power produced by high-emission coal or high-hazard nuclear plants? The batteries of EVs are also packed with hazardous materials and hidden costs. They also come with differential gains, i.e., benefits for the rich countries and miseries for others. The net-zero world as envisaged by the UN is possible but it needs compassion, joint efforts, and real hard work by the global community.
This issue of your journal discusses the costs and benefits of EVs. India has done better than many countries on the clean energy front but we have also abandoned some of our policy roadmaps like the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan and Niti Aayog’s recommendations about zero-emission. Common Cause has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court for the implementation of these.
In the following pages you will find an informed discussion on these, and many more related issues. Like always, your feedback is welcome at commoncauseindia@gmail.com
Vipul Mudgal
Editor
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