Climate action: India Inc may have a fair shot at global green leadership

livemint.com:

Sumant Sinha, chairman and managing director of Gurgaon-based ReNew, was recently appointed co-chair of the Switzerland-based Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders. This private sector collective has about 130 global chief executive officers from 26 countries representing 12 industries. 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.