Today (November 10) as we observe World Science Day for Peace and Development, it would probably be good if the occasion marks the start of a movement in India to achieve aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in the climate technology arena.
Becoming self-reliant in the climate technology arena could play a pivotal role in ensuring that a geographically diverse country like ours, having one of the largest scientific and technical manpower worldwide can rely on its own resources to address multiple challenges posed by Climate Change. This includes being able to develop the capability of ‘building Climate-Ready Communities’, the theme chosen for the 2021 edition of the World Science Day.
Self-reliance in climate technology would reduce our dependence on overseas entities for affordable climate technologies, and could, also, going forward, significantly lessen the requirement of climate financing support that the world’s second-most populous nation would need from advanced countries to meet its own climate goals. On November 3, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav tweeted that “India expects climate finance of $1 trillion at the earliest”.
Having an ecosystem in place for developing home-grown climate technology companies with global expertise would ensure that the solutions proposed for climate adaptation and climate mitigation would be specific to the requirements of an Indian village/town/city/state or region right from the start. Deployment of the technologies on the ground could thus be quicker since these solutions would not be copy-paste models of those developed elsewhere which, even after significant tweaks, may pose challenges during the implementation process.
Focusing on the development of climate technologies within India could, moreover, guarantee that there is less expenditure involved in coming up with efficacious solutions related to the climate domain. The savings on the manpower cost front alone could hugely lessen the overall cost of technology development.
Fostering an environment for climate technology companies to bloom in India, could, in addition, encourage more entrepreneurial activities in this segment, and even lead to the likely emergence of several start-ups in this arena. This, in turn, could have a positive impact as far as the creation of newer, and better-quality jobs for India’s growing workforce is concerned.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) could play a proactive role to make such a scenario possible. As a first step in this regard, the MoEFCC could identify the most promising technologies for climate adaptation and climate mitigation developed by domestic enterprises on the lines of the ‘App Innovation Challenge’ organised in 2020 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Atal Innovation Mission-Niti Aayog. Organisations which the MoEFCC identifies could be incentivised so that they could attain a scale whereby their work can make a bigger difference in the lives of people.
Leading chambers of commerce such as the CII, Ficci, and Assocham, and specialised industry bodies such as Nasscom, etc. could also do their bit to ensure that India can have its own set of climate technology companies that are at par with the best in the world. Apart from urging members to venture in this arena as a business proposition, industry bodies could convince corporate leaders to consider funding home-grown start-ups in the climate technology space.
The climate issue is far too important for a country like India with aspirations of emerging as a developed nation to be overly dependent on other nations for addressing matters connected with the climate domain. Becoming a force to reckon with in the climate technology space could go a long way in ensuring that India can effectively balance its developmental goals with its climate agenda, and, also, provide a fillip to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission.
Sumali Moitra is a current affairs commentator. Twitter: @sumalimoitra.
Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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