India has potential to become major green hydrogen exporter, says Amitabh Kant

Amitabh Kant

G20 Sherpa and former NITI Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant said India has the possibility of becoming a major exporter of green hydrogen and producer of electrolyser.

Speaking at the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2023, Kant said the price of green hydrogen needs to be brought down to about $2.5 per kilogram in the next two to three years and to $1 by 2050, from the current levels of $5 per kilogramme.

“This will require massive size and scale. No other country can provide the size and scale which India can,” he added.

To meet the net-zero emissions target by 2070, the Indian government is actively looking at an energy transition with a focus on the production of green hydrogen.

In January 2023, the Indian government approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission with an initial outlay of Rs 19,744 crore. Of the allocated sum, Rs 17,490 crore or 88.6 percent has been earmarked solely for incentives on the production of green hydrogen and the manufacturing of electrolysers.

Other than that, up to Rs 1,466 crore will be devoted to pilot projects, Rs 400 crore to R&D, and Rs 388 crore towards other mission components.

Kant also highlighted that to produce green hydrogen on a long scale, long-term lending of 25-30 years is required.

He said that developed countries have not lived up to their commitment of providing $100 billion annually as climate finance to developing countries by 2020.

This pledge, which was taken by developed countries in the Copenhagen Accord signed at COP15 in 2009, was rooted in the fact that they have historically been the largest emitters of carbon.