Chapter 2
Sustainable Development Goals
in Context to BRICS Countries
Bhabajit Baruah and Rakesh Nath
Abstract Sustainable Development Goals calls for a substantial increase in the
share of solar energy in the global energy mix, as well as for a more efficient use
of energy. With the considerable cost of degradation in the environment at USD80
billion annually, which is equivalent to 5.7% of GDP in 2009, a major constraint
in sustaining future economic growth could be the environment (Griffith-Jones in A
BRICS development bank: a dream coming true? (No. 215), 2014). In this present
work, an attempt has been made to outline and focus on the goals set by BRICS
countries with the aid of the major financial institutions and the socio economic
groups for these five countries and the action plans taken as an initiative for the
sustainable development of the energy sector at large and solar energy in specific.
India is planning to increase the production of renewable energy by 40% within 2030
and in turn reduce emissions intensity by 33–35% over 2005 levels (Schmidt and
Sewerin in Nat Energy 2(6):17084, 2017). China on the other hand intends to reduce
emission intensity by 60–65% over 2005 levels by increasing its solar energy capacity
from 43GW at the end of 2015 to 127GW by 2020. Russia’s current emissions are
around 40% lower than 1990 levels which are greater than the target set of 25–30%
over 1990 levels. More emphasis is given in developing sustainable renewable green
energy. Brazil is arguably in the best position to achieve its goals in renewable energy
sphere, as in 2015, 74% of its energy came from renewable sources (Schmidt and
Sewerin in Nat Energy 2(6):17084, 2017). South Africa has a very far way to go
in the field of renewable energy as at present more than 90% of the energy are still
generated from fossil fuels though the country has targets to commission another
17.8 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2020.
Keywords Smart grid · Renewable energy · Solar photovoltaic · Sustainable
energy
B. Baruah (B) · R. Nath
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of
Management and Technology, Guwahati 781017, India
e-mail: bhabajit_me@gimt-guwahati.ac.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
H. Tyagi et al. (eds.), Solar Energy, Energy, Environment,
and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0675-8_2
13
Sustainable Development Goals
in Context to BRICS Countries
Bhabajit Baruah and Rakesh Nath
Abstract Sustainable Development Goals calls for a substantial increase in the
share of solar energy in the global energy mix, as well as for a more efficient use
of energy. With the considerable cost of degradation in the environment at USD80
billion annually, which is equivalent to 5.7% of GDP in 2009, a major constraint
in sustaining future economic growth could be the environment (Griffith-Jones in A
BRICS development bank: a dream coming true? (No. 215), 2014). In this present
work, an attempt has been made to outline and focus on the goals set by BRICS
countries with the aid of the major financial institutions and the socio economic
groups for these five countries and the action plans taken as an initiative for the
sustainable development of the energy sector at large and solar energy in specific.
India is planning to increase the production of renewable energy by 40% within 2030
and in turn reduce emissions intensity by 33–35% over 2005 levels (Schmidt and
Sewerin in Nat Energy 2(6):17084, 2017). China on the other hand intends to reduce
emission intensity by 60–65% over 2005 levels by increasing its solar energy capacity
from 43GW at the end of 2015 to 127GW by 2020. Russia’s current emissions are
around 40% lower than 1990 levels which are greater than the target set of 25–30%
over 1990 levels. More emphasis is given in developing sustainable renewable green
energy. Brazil is arguably in the best position to achieve its goals in renewable energy
sphere, as in 2015, 74% of its energy came from renewable sources (Schmidt and
Sewerin in Nat Energy 2(6):17084, 2017). South Africa has a very far way to go
in the field of renewable energy as at present more than 90% of the energy are still
generated from fossil fuels though the country has targets to commission another
17.8 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2020.
Keywords Smart grid · Renewable energy · Solar photovoltaic · Sustainable
energy
B. Baruah (B) · R. Nath
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of
Management and Technology, Guwahati 781017, India
e-mail: bhabajit_me@gimt-guwahati.ac.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
H. Tyagi et al. (eds.), Solar Energy, Energy, Environment,
and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0675-8_2
13