The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) recently organised the 13th Green Energy Summit themed Green Energy Transition: India’s Moment of Opportunity. The summit featured insightful deliberations on key topics such as nuclear energy, solar energy equipment manufacturing, battery storage solutions, and coal gasification. During the event, a Knowledge Paper titled ‘Advancing Sustainable Energy Transition – Pathway for Net-Zero Future in India’ was also launched focusing on the strategies for accelerating India’s transition to green energy.
The Knowledge Paper explores pathways, technological enablers and policy frameworks needed to navigate this complex transformation from a fossil-fuel-based system to net zero by 2070. It addresses socio-economic challenges to ensure a Just Transition. It elaborates on how innovative financing models can help attract private investment into the market and bridge the funding gap. The paper highlights the need for clean energy to decarbonise the power grid and to support Green Hydrogen production. Moreover, to achieve India’s net zero goal, it demands strategic funding, clear policies and adoption of technologies like Green Hydrogen, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS), and long-duration storage.
The paper outlines key recommendations to achieve India’s transition goals. Some of them include the addition of 40-50 GW of renewable capacity annually, with central and state utilities playing a pivotal role; developing a domestic manufacturing ecosystem to increase local production; relaxation of trade barriers on imported solar cells and modules until the domestic manufacturing sector is fully established; expanding hydro and nuclear capacity through timely completion of under-developed hydro and nuclear projects, etc; accelerating land acquisition and clearances to streamline land allocation and statutory clearance processes for project development, to name a few.
The event brought together leading experts, policymakers and industry leaders such as ICC National Expert Committee on Energy, Former Secretary, Power, GOI, and Summit Chairman and Chair, Mr Anil Razdan; Co-Chair of ICC National Expert Committee on Energy, Head-Power, RPSG Group, Mr Kush Singh; to name a few. Together, they discussed India’s roadmap to a sustainable energy future. The summit commenced with an engaging inaugural session featuring eminent industry stalwarts and thought leaders.
ICC National Expert Committee on Energy, Former Secretary, Power, GOI, and Summit Chairman and Chair, Mr Anil Razdan, delivered the welcome address, emphasizing India’s pivotal role in the global green energy transition. He said, “. If there are 12 people sitting or standing in a public space, 10 of them are on their mobiles or some electronic device and each one of them needs electricity. So electricity has become really a part of our lives. It has to be friendly to the consumer. It has to be accessible, it has to be available in much larger quantities than we have ever experienced because mostly it was in static locations. Today, we want it more actual. When we talk of green energy, we need to talk of all three topics that we discussed today, i.e, solar, wind, nuclear as well as gasification.”
Setting the context for the day’s discussions, Co-Chair of ICC National Expert Committee on Energy, Head-Power, RPSG Group, Mr Kush Singh, said, “The Government today is focused on not only just vanilla green to green transition. They are focused on becoming self-sufficient. They are focused towards maximizing the utilization of internal resources and synchronizing everybody together towards this mission.”
The summit concluded with the 5th Green Urja and Energy Efficiency Awards, celebrating outstanding contributions in the renewable energy sector. Some of the winners include Tata Capital Ltd, Berger Paints India, Adani Green Energy Limited, to name a few. The awards were handed over by Chairperson, Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), Dr Anil Kumar Jain; Former Chairperson, CEA, Ms Neerja Mathur; Former MD, SECI and Former Senior Director, Renewable Energy Technologies Division, TERI, Dr Ashvini Kumar, etc.
The 13th Green Energy Summit reaffirmed India’s commitment to a sustainable energy future and set the stage for actionable strategies to drive the nation’s energy transition.
About the Indian Chamber of Commerce:
Founded in 1925, the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is a leading and proactive National Chamber of Commerce operating from Kolkata. The ICC has been instrumental in supporting Indian businesses since its inception and continues to play a vital role in the country’s economic development. The Indian Chamber of Commerce is led by President, Mr. Abhyuday Jindal, Managing Director Jindal Stainless Limited, works closely with various Ministries and State Governments on Policy and Industry issues.
ICC also strongly focuses on economic research and policy issues—it regularly undertakes macro-economic surveys/studies, prepares state investment climate reports and sector reports, and provides necessary policy inputs and budget recommendations to governments at state and central levels.
