The BGA India Team, led by Managing Director Ratan Shrivastava, wrote an update to clients on India’s recent climate commitments made during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).

Context

  • COP28, which ended December 12, completed a global stocktake of climate action and strengthened climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. It helped promote the transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.
  • Leveraging its high ranking — seventh — on the Climate Change Performance Index, India showcased its ability to sustain a high growth rate while reducing its emission intensity of GDP by 33 percent.

Significance

  • India reached a compromise with the developed countries on emissions by stressing “just, orderly and equitable” climate action in accordance with each country’s national circumstances. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at the “Transforming Climate Finance” session, emphasizing the need for developing countries to have affordable and accessible climate finance. India’s delegation also launched the Green Credit Initiative to incentivize “pro-planet” actions by issuing green credits.
  • India signed the COP28 pledge to triple renewable energy capacity after the consensus document changed its wording, from a “phaseout” of all fossil fuels to “transitioning away,” following extended deliberation. This underscores the country’s increasingly prominent role in shaping the global climate agenda. The consensus also brought COP28 language in line with the unanimously adopted 2023 Group of 20 climate deceleration goals, which New Delhi helped set.

Implications

  • In the run-up to COP29, India’s key climate priorities will include narrowing the financing gap, enhancing technology transfers and supporting innovation to promote energy efficiency. Despite these accomplishments, India’s climate diplomacy will need to balance the diverging interests of advanced and developing economies around issues such as fossil fuel usage, renewable energy usage and climate financing given the disagreements at COP28.
  • Substantial industry stakeholder participation at COP28 signifies a growing interest in private capital flows to finance the energy transition. This could help India meet its private capital requirement to accelerate the clean energy transition. The government’s robust domestic policy reforms and incentives will also support efforts to meet India’s ambitious 2030 targets regarding solar manufacturing and deployment, energy storage ecosystems, green hydrogen, ammonia and biofuels and mainstreaming newer blended fuels.

We will continue to keep you updated on developments in India. If you have questions or comments, please contact BGA India Managing Director Ratan Shrivastava at ratan@bowergroupasia.com.

Best regards, BGA India Team

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Managing Director

Ratan is a senior executive and management consulting professional who has a proven track record in government, consulting and industry across India and Southeast Asia, with a wide network across stakeholders. He has been instrumental in developing and implementing growth strategies for both the public and private sector and has led diverse teams to secure new market opportunities. Prior to joining BGA, Ratan was at KPMG India where he helped the integration of the small and medium industry clusters, with the domestic and global aerospace, defense and space supply chains. He also served as an advisor at the Federation of ... Read More