Parliament passes Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022

Tags: National News

Parliament passed the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 with the approval of Rajya Sabha on 12 December. The Lok Sabha has already passed the Bill. 

Highlight of the bill

• This bill has been brought to amend the Energy Conservation Act of 2001.

• It promotes energy efficiency and conservation.

• The Bill empowers the Center to specify a carbon credit trading scheme.

• The legislation also stipulates that designated consumers may be required to meet a proportion of their energy needs from non-fossil sources.

• The Energy Conservation Code for Buildings will be applicable to office and residential buildings with a connected load of 100 kW or more.

• It provides for increasing the membership in the Governing Council of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

• Empowers the State Electricity Regulatory Commissions to frame rules for the smooth discharge of their functions.

• Enacts enabling provisions to mandate the use of clean energy, including green hydrogen, and to establish a carbon market.

• The Bill seeks to mandate the use of non-fossil sources for energy and feedstock, including green hydrogen, green ammonia, biomass and ethanol.

Why was this bill introduced?

• During the COP-26 summit in 2021, India made relevant commitments for energy efficiency efforts.

• In this backdrop, the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2022.