India’s presidency of the G20 may help businesses decrease emissions more quickly.
Synopsis
Thousands of enterprises in India and elsewhere are already striving to decrease their emissions in accordance with climate science, since the commercial rationale is clear: it saves money, boosts investor confidence, and allows them to stay ahead of regulations. It also strengthens corporate operations and supply networks in the face of harsh weather disasters.
As the G20 president, India has a unique chance to promote climate action while also demonstrating ambition and plans for boosting economic development and long-term prosperity. India can also lead by cutting its own emissions and enacting rules that allow Indian enterprises to play a key part in the country’s climate transition. Financial incentives and business-friendly legislation will provide firms with the confidence they need to invest in low-carbon technology and programmes.
Thousands of enterprises in India and elsewhere are already striving to decrease their emissions in accordance with climate science, since the commercial rationale is clear: it saves money, boosts investor confidence, and allows them to stay ahead of regulations. It also strengthens corporate operations and supply networks in the face of harsh weather disasters.
116 enterprises in India alone, including Infosys, Dalmia Cement, and the entire Mahindra Group, have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout their value chains. Furthermore, 75 companies with operations in India, including Tata Motors and Ultratech Cement, have committed to sourcing 100% renewable energy, and 13 Indian companies, including WIPRO and Flipkart, have committed to electrifying 100% of their corporate fleets, which means purchasing over 200,000 electric vehicles locally and establishing 2850 charging stations in India.
To meet their goals, these firms – and their peers around the G20 – need universal access to clean energy and sustainable infrastructure. They also need financial and R&D backing to innovate, start pilot projects, and scale up demonstration projects to commercial size in order to encourage clean technology adoption across sectors.
However, even the most environmentally conscious businesses have limitations in how far they can go. This year, India may lead G20 nations in overcoming these challenges by issuing a strong communiqué signalling the phase-out of all fossil fuels. This will set off an unstoppable surge of private sector climate action and innovation in India and worldwide, hastening the world’s path towards sustainable economic growth and prosperity.
India, as a major voice of the global south, has the ability to alter the course of history by urging G20 countries to agree to offer supportive policy settings that allow firms to reduce their emissions.
Through its National Green Hydrogen Mission, India has already shown national leadership in renewable energy and hydrogen. The Indian annual budget for 2023 is a move towards green development, with significant expenditures earmarked for a cleaner energy transition. Businesses were particularly encouraged by India’s worldwide leadership in pressing for the phase-out of all fossil fuels at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Building on this, explicit wording in the G20 communiqué outlining how nations may speed the transition to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels will spur private investment in tomorrow’s boom sectors. This will offer CEOs throughout the globe the confidence to increase investments and innovations in sustainable solutions for energy systems, heavy industries, and transportation. It will also encourage investment in the nations that are accelerating the deployment of sustainable energy.
As the globe confronts several crises, the only way to ensure energy security is to expedite and just transition to a diverse, dependable, and sustainable energy system. This would need the redirection of fossil fuel subsidies, which in 2021 will amount to about USD 700 billion among G20 countries, and more than USD 10 billion in India in 2019.
This diverted funding may assist scale up renewable energy deployment, grid infrastructure rollout, and sustainable mobility such as EVs and public transit. Subsidies may also be channelled to energy efficiency measures in buildings, industries, and transportation, such as energy efficient appliances, cooling systems, building codes with energy efficiency performance criteria, and more. Energy efficiency is an excellent way to save money; efforts done since 2000 have resulted in approximately $680 billion in cost reductions worldwide. Furthermore, over 125 enterprises devoted to improving energy efficiency measures saved more than $128 million in yearly savings over the last several years.
Given the scale of its population reliant on fossil fuels, as well as the necessity to re-skill and upskill broad swaths of individuals entering the clean energy sector, achieving an equitable energy transition is especially important in India. As a result, G20 leaders must commit to adopt community-focused policies that promote an equitable transition for those who depend on fossil fuel industries for a living, both directly and indirectly. Because some G20 nations are already farther along on this road than others, sharing lessons learned would be beneficial.
However, time is of the importance. To avert the worst effects of climate change, global emissions must be reduced in half by 2030. India has a unique potential to design a healthier, safer, and more sustainable future not just for its own population, but also for the rest of the world. The world is watching, and we are certain that the Indian government and industry will rise to the occasion.
