Talking Point: Tackling pollution, investing in renewables will help India’s economy

For this, the Indian government needs to provide a conducive legislative framework and its financial markets and outside investors need to step in, says United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Erik Solheim.

“With Indian firms like Infosys and Tata getting on board, it’s easy to see where the market is going,” Solheim said. “This is something that speaks for itself. This kind of engagement will also help unlock some of the challenges, particularly around financing,” said Solheim, who believes corporate sourcing of renewable electricity can be a major driver of the transition to a robust, zero-emission economy.

“We’re looking at a $150 billion investment opportunity. To facilitate this, the government needs to provide a conducive legislative framework – at the very least a level-playing field. Secondly, India’s financial markets and outside investors will need to step in,” Solheim, a former Norwegian Environment Minister, said.

About India’s commitment to source 40 per cent of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, an optimistic Solheim said: “I was enormously encouraged to see India’s rapid ratification of the Paris Agreement. India could quite feasibly surpass its targets.”

Solheim said prices of solar and wind renewables have already plummeted in recent years, so the technology is now far more accessible than ever before. “Solar pricing has come down roughly 80 percent in the past five years. Again, we need to see a level-playing field for renewables and barriers removed. This will be crucial for India because off-grid renewable energy solutions are essential if we want to see universal access to electricity.”

Advocating promoting onsite renewable technology, he said, “There are great examples of grid-level solar and wind farms like the new 648 MW solar farm in Kamuthi (in Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu) or local solutions that feed excess capacity back into the grid, as well as the multiple off-the-grid solutions.” In terms of the technologies available, solar and wind are not the only players.”