India is a beacon of hope for sustainable future

Asia has a very significant role to play in the global energy transition. However, Asia is not a homogenous entity — its economies are at different stages of development with vast disparities in energy endowments. India is an important part of the Asian energy transition. As the country’s largest private-sector energy and infrastructure conglomerate, the Adani Group is playing a leading role in the provision of affordable, clean, and reliable power to accelerate economic growth needed for improving the quality of life of India’s citizens.

India’s path to a $5 trillion economy by 2025 requires an investment of more than $800 billion. This investment will go towards scaling up the nation’s energy system and building much-needed infrastructure, which will lead to an inevitable rise in emissions. For this reason, India has focussed two of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) on reducing the emission intensity of its economy, as well as an ambitious plan to increase the proportion of renewables in its electricity generation mix. India is well on track to exceeding these two NDCs as part of its Paris obligations.

The Adani Group is a microcosm of India, and the Group Chairman’s vision of nation-building has been the guiding framework for responsible growth. The Chairman, addressing the 2021 JP Morgan India Investor Summit, pledged that the Group would exceed India’s emission intensity reduction goal. He also noted that the Group’s renewable pipeline has already reached 25GW—full four years ahead of its planned target date of 2025 – and that Adani Green Energy Limited is on track to becoming the world’s largest renewable energy company by 2030. The Chairman also announced that 75% of the Group’s planned capital expend will be in green businesses and that the Group will invest $20 billion over the next decade in renewables, green component manufacturing, and the enabling infrastructure to accommodate a greater share ofrenewablesinIndia’s energy system.

As India and the Adani Group continue to build the capacity of a globally leading renewable over the next decade, and the country ramps up much-needed infrastructure and industrial capacity, it is more critical than ever that India’s affordable and reliable base-load power is in place. This need does, however, pose several challenges. India does not have abundant domestic natural gas, and imported LNG is too expensive for electricity generation (it is also needed for more valuable end-uses such as the chemicals value chain). India is also dependent on uranium imports, and any significant expansion of hydroelectricity will require careful consideration of the ecological impact and community displacement. Green hydrogen holds a strong promise forIndia’sfuture energy self-reliance. It is not too difficult to imagine a scenario where green hydrogen at a price of less than $1/kg — coupled with the projected reduction in the cost of combined cycle hydrogen turbines and fuel cells — will not only allow the country to make a transition from fossil fuels but will also free India from the debilitating Financial burden of energy imports.

India and the Adani Group are playing their part in the energy transition — they are leading the world in renewables and are poised to play an important role in green hydrogen.