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India’s ambitious plans to meet its climate targets under the Paris Agreement represent about USD 3.1 trillion worth of investment opportunities by 2030 in sectors including renewable energy, green buildings, transport infrastructure, electric vehicles, and climate-smart agriculture, says a new report by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.
As per the report, a USD 448 billion opportunity will be in renewable energy, created by the large-scale, strong government commitment to install 175 GW of capacity by 2022, and India’s target that aims for 40 percent of installed capacity to come from renewable sources by 2030.
The green building sector in India is expected to generate a USD 1.4-trillion opportunity arising from rapid urbanisation, policy incentives for green construction, and the fact that 70 percent of buildings needed by 2030 are yet to be built.
As much as a USD 250 billion opportunity will arise from transport infrastructure to help achieve a modal shift from private to public transport, and USD 667 billion in electric vehicles to meet the government’s goal of electrifying all new vehicle sales by 2030.
The municipal solid waste management sector is expected to create an investment opportunity worth USD 11 billion by 2030. This will be to bridge the gap between the significant amount of waste produced and the availability of appropriate infrastructure for solid waste management.
An opportunity worth USD 128 billion will exist in case of climate-smart urban water to collect, treat and manage urban wastewater, and help alleviate urban India’s water stress and a USD 194 billion opportunity will arise from climate-smart agriculture to boost agricultural productivity, enhance resource efficiency and resilience, and modernize India’s agricultural sector, the report said.
The analysis is part of a regional study that examines the climate-investment opportunities in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. These countries together represent 7.38 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
The report also identifies USD 172 billion of climate-smart investment opportunities in Bangladesh, USD 42 billion in Bhutan, USD 2 billion in the Maldives, USD 46 billion in Nepal, and USD 18 billion in Sri Lanka.
“The only way that the South Asian countries can take advantage of these climate investment opportunities is with a strong and engaged private sector,” said IFC CEO Philippe Le Houérou. “We also need to have a comprehensive approach to creating markets for climate business in key sectors. That means putting in place necessary policy frameworks, promoting competition, and building capacity and skills to open new markets.”
With a population of 1.3 billion, India is the world’s third-largest economy according to purchasing power parity, and with a young, large, and growing labor force, the country is a significant market for the private sector. As India works to deliver universal electricity access and address rapid urbanisation, this creates vast business opportunities. The country’s private sector is responding quickly to the opportunities created by its stated climate target under the Paris agreement and domestic policy goals and is taking every chance to make climate-smart investments marketable, said the report.
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