POWERING INDIA'S FUTURE

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of India's path to net-zero, emphasizing the need for a 'people-positive' transition. It examines the historical context of household energy shifts, the potential of emerging technologies like green hydrogen and CCUS, and the critical role of the Reserve Bank of India in mobilizing climate finance. The document highlights regional disparities in renewable energy capacity, particularly in Eastern India, and argues for a strategic green industrial policy to reduce import dependence and create jobs. It also proposes a Global Climate Alliance to facilitate financial and technology transfers between the Global North and South, while calling for reforms in Multilateral Development Banks to better support low-income countries.

• India has pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 and aims for an installed renewable capacity of 500 GW by 2030, with plans to add 50 GW annually over five years.
• Cumulative investments of approximately US$6–8 trillion are required between 2015 and 2030 to achieve India's clean energy goals.
• Historical energy transitions in India shifted households from traditional fuels to fossil fuels, creating a dependency on coal that now hinders decarbonization; coal-based power generation accounted for about 51 percent of total capacity in February 2023 but nearly 74 percent of actual power generation.
• Decentralized rooftop solar adoption in India has significantly lagged, with only 1 GW installed in the residential sector by 2022, falling short of the 40 GW target for grid-connected rooftop solar by over 80 percent.
• The National Green Hydrogen Mission targets a production capacity of at least 5 MMT per annum by 2030, requiring an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW and total investments exceeding INR 8 trillion.
• India's renewable energy capacity is geographically skewed, with eight states in the west and south housing 88 percent of the 121 GW of solar and wind power plants as of December 2022, leaving eastern states heavily coal-dependent.
• Informal workers in coal regions are highly vulnerable; in some districts of Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, the highest earning member in about 90 percent of rural households earns below INR 5,000 per month.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can mobilize domestic and foreign capital by designating sustainable bonds as eligible for the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) and relaxing External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) norms for the clean energy sector.
• India's reliance on imported solar components is high, with Chinese manufacturers supplying nearly 90 percent of solar components, highlighting a need for a strategic green industrial policy to build domestic manufacturing.
• The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) could reduce India's annual steel exports to the EU by up to 40 percent, creating an urgent need to reduce the carbon intensity of export-oriented production.
• The proposed Global Climate Alliance (GCA) seeks to create a 'coalition of the willing' where Global South countries commit to binding targets in exchange for financial and technology partnerships from the Global North.
• Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are underperforming in private capital mobilization, currently attracting only US$0.6 in private investment for every dollar lent directly; this ratio needs to be doubled to meet 2030 goals.

APA

Jaspal, M. (2023). POWERING INDIA'S FUTURE. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ORF_Monograph_PoweringIndiasFuture.pdf

Chicago

Jaspal, Mannat. POWERING INDIA'S FUTURE. Climate Policy Initiative, 2023. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ORF_Monograph_PoweringIndiasFuture.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Jaspal |first1=Mannat |title=POWERING INDIA'S FUTURE |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=November 2023 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ORF_Monograph_PoweringIndiasFuture.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jaspal2023powering, author = {Jaspal, Mannat}, title = {{POWERING INDIA'S FUTURE}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ORF_Monograph_PoweringIndiasFuture.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }