'India needs USD 10.1 trillion investments to achieve net-zero emission by 2070'
India will need cumulative investments of USD 10.1 trillion to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, as a study released on Thursday.
According to the CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF), these investments would help decarbonise the country's power, industrial, and transport sectors. However, the study also highlighted that India could face a significant investment shortfall of USD 3.5 trillion to achieve its net-zero target. Thus, investment support of USD 1.4 trillion, in the form of concessional finance, would be required from developed economies.
“At COP26, India announced bold near-term and long-term climate targets. Our analysis finds that a transition to net-zero emissions would require mammoth investment support from developed countries,” informed Dr. Arunabha Ghosh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India’s aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070 at the recently concluded COP26. The study, titled ‘Investment Sizing India’s 2070 Net-Zero Target’ also mentioned that the majority of the investments India needed is in the power sector. For instance, around USD 8.4 trillion, would be required to significantly scale up generation from renewable energy and associated integration, distribution and transmission infrastructure. Another USD 1.5 trillion would have to be invested in the industrial sector for setting up green hydrogen production capacity to advance the sector’s decarbonisation.
“Finally, given the size of the investments required, private capital, from both domestic and international institutions, should form the bulk of investment, while public funds should play a catalytic role by de-risking investments in existing and emerging clean technologies,” said Ghosh.