How India’s climate leadership is building a better future for all

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Børge Brende, President, World Economic Forum, Anish Shah, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Mahindra Group, Sumant Sinha, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ReNew Power

• India’s climate action is fundamental to the global fight against climate change.
• Now, as it champions cooperative efforts, as president of the G20, the world’s most populous country has the chance to bring the international community closer together in accelerating climate action.
• Strong public-private collaboration will be critical to supporting these efforts.

This article first appeared in The Hindustan Times.

India is poised to be a global leader when it comes to economy, technology and trade. Now, it has an opportunity to seize the moment and help the world address climate change before time runs out.

As the fastest-growing majority economy in the world, with the third largest startup ecosystem and a rising trade-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, it is, as Prime Minister (PM) Modi has said, an “India moment”.

India: President of G20 2023 and a global leader

This opportunity to showcase India’s leadership and know-how should not be missed, particularly when it comes to the environment because the climate crisis is the most critical threat to the world today. July was the hottest month on record, and deadly wildfires, flooding, and storms have ravaged communities around the world. All told, extreme weather has taken the lives of two million people and caused $4.3 trillion in economic losses over the past half-century. “It’s now or never to limit global warming” according to the United Nations (UN).

Although we know the only way to meet our climate obligations is to take steps together, the urgent need for collective action comes at a time when global collaboration has become fragile.

This is why both India’s commitment to climate action and its current role as a global convener in its capacity as the president of the G20 are so vital for moving climate action forward.

India has shown it is leading in the climate space through global collaborative initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance—a platform that is bringing together stakeholders to deploy solar energy technologies and secure $1,000 billion of investments in solar energy solutions by 2030. It has also launched movements to drive sustainable practices at the individual level, including Mission LiFE, which encourages environmentally conscious lifestyles.

India is also part of global initiatives such as the First Movers Coalition—a group launched by the World Economic Forum of 13 countries and 80 companies that is working to bring green technology to hard-to-abate sectors, like steel and cement. The acceleration of clean technologies and adoption of energy-efficient innovations will play a central role in reaching net-zero targets, and India’s participation in this coalition, as a major, innovative economy, will be critical for the coalition’s success.

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How India is leading by example

All of these efforts, and the government’s pledge at the 2021 UN Climate Conference in Glasgow to reach net zero by 2070, show how India can lead the world by example, both when it comes to ambition and action.

Now it is time for India to work towards strengthening global climate collaboration. As India prepares for the G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in New Delhi, it has the chance to drive collective and collaborative action ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in the United Arab Emirates (COP28) in November. Indeed, India’s theme for this year’s G20, “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, speaks to the need to work for common purpose on issues like climate change that will shape our common future.

Among the steps India can take is to encourage the formation of international carbon markets, where smaller groups of countries within the G20 can come together to develop bilateral arrangements on carbon markets as part of Article 6.2 of the Paris Climate Agreement. It can also encourage countries to jointly put mandates on green hydrogen usage to enable more rapid corporate decarbonization and to align on incentives to promote large-scale afforestation measures.

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What’s the World Economic Forum doing about the transition to clean energy?

Moving to clean energy is key to combating climate change, yet in the past five years, the energy transition has stagnated.

Energy consumption and production contribute to two-thirds of global emissions, and 81% of the global energy system is still based on fossil fuels, the same percentage as 30 years ago. Plus, improvements in the energy intensity of the global economy (the amount of energy used per unit of economic activity) are slowing. In 2018 energy intensity improved by 1.2%, the slowest rate since 2010.

Effective policies, private-sector action and public-private cooperation are needed to create a more inclusive, sustainable, affordable and secure global energy system.

Benchmarking progress is essential to a successful transition. The World Economic Forum’s Energy Transition Index, which ranks 115 economies on how well they balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability, shows that the biggest challenge facing energy transition is the lack of readiness among the world’s largest emitters, including US, China, India and Russia. The 10 countries that score the highest in terms of readiness account for only 2.6% of global annual emissions.

To future-proof the global energy system, the Forum’s Shaping the Future of Energy and Materials Platform is working on initiatives including, Systemic Efficiency, Innovation and Clean Energy and the Global Battery Alliance to encourage and enable innovative energy investments, technologies and solutions.

Additionally, the Mission Possible Platform (MPP) is working to assemble public and private partners to further the industry transition to set heavy industry and mobility sectors on the pathway towards net-zero emissions. MPP is an initiative created by the World Economic Forum and the Energy Transitions Commission.

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Public-private to mitigate climate impacts

Strong public-private collaboration will be critical to supporting these efforts and to mitigating climate impacts, securing net-zero ambitions and building a nature-positive and equitable world. This is why the World Economic Forum is committed to supporting India in its vision and efforts to drive climate action and environment sustainability. It has launched the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders in India, with the Mahindra Group and ReNew as Co-Chairs, to leverage the potential of corporate leadership and partnerships to accelerate India’s progress on climate action and net-zero targets. A high-level platform of top business leaders in India across industries, the Alliance aims to launch lighthouse initiatives in three priority areas, decarbonizing supply chains, hydrogen pathway and catalyzing afforestation.

India’s climate action is fundamental to the global fight against climate change. Now, as it champions cooperative efforts, as president of the G20 and as part of initiatives hosted by the World Economic Forum, the world’s most populous country has the chance to bring the international community closer together in accelerating climate action.