State renewable energy policy is a paper tiger: C-STEP

BENGULURU: Even as Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Nitin Gadkari are working out ways to use renewable energy and reduce India’s carbon footprint, a report by climate scientists from the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (C-STEP) has taken Karnataka to task for losing its status as a pioneer in this sector.

The report was submitted by 25 ruling and Opposition legislators in Karnataka, headed by minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and including Priyank Kharge, the son of Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun M Kharge, to CM Siddaramaiah on Wednesday. The legislators form the state unit of the Climate Parliament.

Dinesh Gundu Rao, the chairman of the Karnataka Chapter of the Climate Parliament, told ET: “As one of the top five renewable energy-rich states with a potential of 30,000 MW, Karnataka has seen very little recognition of opportunities provided by this potential”.

The C-STEP report, a copy of which was accessed by ET, points out that Karnataka is currently in the fourth place after Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat in harnessing and using renewable energy, despite having renewable energy policy right from 2009.