Budget 2026-27 Mentions Carbon Capture and Tax Exemptions for Energy Sector, But Environment Takes a Backseat - The Wire

Bengaluru: Apart from an outlay of Rs. 20,000 crores for technology to capture carbon emissions at source, and tax benefits and relaxations in some aspects of the energy sector – specifically for nuclear power plants (which come with environmental dangers of their own) and lithium batteries for energy storage – the Union Budget 2026-27 held little cheer for the environment.In fact, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech in which she presented her ninth budget in parliament on February 1 barely spoke of the environment. The budget revealed a push for infrastructure (including developing waterways and coastal cargo and shipping, which are environmentally-damaging); Sitharaman also spoke about fund allocations to mine for rare earth and critical minerals. Air pollution, an issue that India – especially north India and the national capital New Delhi – is grappling with, found no mention at all, and fund allocation for the control of pollution has decreased in this year’s ...