Businesses need to invest in clean energy tech, says Kan
Indian businesses need to aggressively invest in research and development of clean energy technology to tap the huge growth potential that the climate change crisis has presented for this sunrise sector, NITI Aayog chief executive officer Amitabh Kant said on Thursday.
Speaking at the virtual annual meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Kant said that India can achieve the ambition of becoming a global leader in clean energy technology only if the industry invests in cutting edge technology. This, he said, was needed in areas such as hydrogen, advanced solar panels, and next-generation batteries.
Kant was speaking on the subject “India’s development transition and climate change.”
Kant said that the world is making a transition to a new growth pathway in the face of climate change and that India cannot become a global manufacturing or export hub by copying the China model but needs to evolve its growth strategy.
“India cannot be the next factory of the world by copying China. We are to create our own growth model, which will put Indian products all over the world,” Kant said.
He added that the only way to achieve this was through creating clean technology and products such as low-cost green hydrogen. “We have to create a green brand for India that is respected and admired all over the world,” said Kant.
Kant explained that the world was rapidly moving towards green industries. These are the industries that would be attracting finance, capital and technology. “And these companies alone will add value, and old industries will wither away. This is the writing on the wall that old industries will die and the green and digital industries will be the ones of the future,” he said.
Kant pointed out to business leaders what he felt were weaknesses in the Indian in try at present.
“India’s current indus profile is characterized by t factors: cost-effective, medi quality products with islan product excellence, lack of h value, cutting-edge innova products and hence exports, decent value-ad growth but less-job growth high carbon intensity of m facturing and structural ciencies due to logistics, po and capital costs. This st quo, to my mind, cannot tinue if we are to make In products globally competi and this is the time for u establish a new identity of q ity and reliability,” Kant business leaders.