Apart from ReNew, at an institutional level, there are eight other Indian companies that are part of this group. While the Conference of the Parties (CoP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is a confluence of countries, the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders is envisioned as a parallel body at the level of global corporations.
Last year, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries was nominated a member of the high-powered international advisory panel of CoP-28 held in Dubai. Additionally, again in 2023, when India assumed presidency of two international forums, the G20 and Clean Energy Ministerial, Indian industry played a key role.
Until now, India Inc and its leaders have largely operated on the margins of global climate action. The few examples given here are exceptions. It is, therefore, time that Indian businesses play a more influential role at the global high-table.
The case for India to do so is strong. Home to one-sixth of the world’s population, the country’s ambition to become the world’s third-largest economy in the coming few years and a developed nation by 2047 make it incumbent upon it to increase its participation in climate action.
Further, there are key goals around climate action that India has set out to achieve and an equal number of challenges that it has to overcome. The two main goals include a target of net-zero emissions by 2070 and renewable sources accounting for half of all energy needs by 2030, by when India aims to have 500 gigawatt (GW) of fossil fuel-free generation capacity.
As India transitions from a fossil-fuel led economy to a renewables-based one, it needs to quadruple the annual installations of wind and solar capacity to meet its 2030 target and adopt green hydrogen for diversification.
Finally, with greener transportation on the rise globally and despite India reaching 2 million units of electric vehicles across all categories in 2023, according to Bloomberg NEF estimates, Indian industry faces a number of challenges, including funding, high costs and infrastructural enablers.
All these strengthen the argument that Indian business needs to stretch its playground beyond national boundaries to the global landscape. How can that be done?
An Indian agenda for global action: First, even though China is the world’s largest polluter in the world, it is also, paradoxically, a global leader in clean-tech products and services like electric vehicles, renewable energy infrastructure and energy solutions.
With the West’s growing apathy towards China, from which some nations are looking to decouple in favour of alternatives, India should fill in that void as a global manufacturing hub for clean-tech products. But to do that, India would need to acquire a competitive advantage.
At the same time, India’s renewable energy market is finding traction with foreign investors. Both these ambitions would require Indian industry to lobby with trade bodies in the EU and US and engage with global corporations that are looking to invest in India.
Second, the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 poses some risks. Apart from US protectionism under this law, it could hamper technology transfers to other countries.
For India to grow its renewables industry, it will need advanced climate technologies currently unavailable in the country, especially technological advances that are under patent protection.
A 2023 paper by Vyoma Jha and Sameer Kwatra of the climate change research organisation NRDC India argues that existing platforms like the US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership, US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies and US-India Hydrogen Task Force should be strengthened to support India’s clean energy transition.
Further, India needs to leverage its relationship with the US and other countries on the economic and political diplomacy fronts too, quite like it has done for the defence sector.
Third, India’s industry associations need to step up further with a global perspective even as they seek to inform policy formulation on clean energy.
While the Narendra Modi government in the last 10 years has made reasonable strides in the formulation of policies that support climate action, such as the country’s green hydrogen policy, electric vehicle policy, various subsidies and exemptions on import duties, more needs to be done to bring Indian policies in consonance with those overseas.
Finally, oil and gas companies in the country, and those in heavy industries like steel and cement, need to transition from their legacy operations. These industries can draw lessons from global corporations that have travelled farther along the path towards a decarbonized future.
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