9 Jan 2026
An year ago, in 2025, Bharat Climate Forum was established to position India as a leader in cleantech manufacturing enabling the nation to become self reliant in green technologies, as it steadily progresses towards the goal of net zero emissions by 2070, while keeping in mind the nation's ambition of achieving a fully developed status with a $10 Trillion Economy by 2047.
The challenge is ,as noted by several thought leaders on the stage and in the roundtable discussions, that India needs to set a global precedent of developing while using green technologies. This has not been achieved before. The industrial revolution in the European nations and in the USA was powered by fossil fuels.
Even today both EU and USA are significant Green house gas(GHG) emitters.
In 2023, EU27 fossil fuel-related GHG emissions totaled about 3.22 billion tonnes CO2 eq
US energy-related CO2 emissions stood at around 6 billion metric tons
India's current total GHG emissions are around 3.35-3.5/4 billion tonnes CO2 e annually (2024-2025 levels depending upon reports you choose to trust), with roughly 70-75% from fossil fuels like coal. Switching entirely to fossil fuels (100% coal/oil/gas for electricity and energy needs) would spike emissions by 25-40%, pushing totals to 4.2-4.8 billion tonnes CO2e per year, assuming current demand and no efficiency gains, as non-fossil sources (51% of capacity) currently avoid ~1 billion tonnes.
Rapid growth to match the $10T economy could double energy use, leading to 8-10 billion tonnes CO2e annually under an all-fossil scenario. For green growth RE is necessary.
India's current installed power generation capacity stands at approximately 505 GW as of late 2025, with about 259 GW from non-fossil sources including renewables. The country generates around 1,600 billion units (TWh) of electricity annually at present levels. Achieving a $10 trillion economy ambition requires roughly doubling electricity supply to 4,000-4,500 billion units per year, or adding about 900 billion units annually with efficiency improvements, potentially needing an extra 200 GW of coal-equivalent capacity alongside renewables.
All this energy generation, whether India takes renewable or non renewable path, would need financing and this is where we come to the crux of the contest. Leaders in the Indian government and business have taken a stand that developed nations need to finance green development while the developed nations call for a shared responsibility.
This ‘standoff’ is playing out as expected. India is trying to become the voice of the global south. Engaging with other developing nations diplomatically to take a united stance on global platforms UNFCCC and COP etc.
H.E. Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of
the UN Secretary-General (UN SRSG) for Sustainable Energy
for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy shared her thoughts on the intersection of global and national agendas of energy, climate and economic growth.
The argument is compelling. Why should the developing nations sacrifice access to energy and stunt their own growth to meet an agenda that is biased in favor of nations that have already grown and achieved industrialisation?
But despite this India has not been able to take the initiative and actually perform on the metrics that it itself has chosen.
First the idea of India representing the global south is highly misleading. China makes the same claim as does russia but none of these nations truly stand for development of those lagging behind.
As I have noted a few times before, all three nations not just deeply engage with the USA but depend upon the USA for their technological progress. There are millions of Chinese and Indian immigrants working in America. Billions of dollars are being sent back either through remittances or via investments of US companies in their nation.
Russia seems to be insulated in this regard but even the Russians work very closely with the Americas. Today the chief of NATO is a Belarusian. Despite all the drama around the sanctions on Russian oil, the EU continues to buy more of it. As does Asia and Africa. The rhetoric of war has not really compelled any sovereign nation to give up commercial interests. Business interests are modern drivers of geopolitics,not ideology.
A similar story would play out with Venezuela. Hypocritical slogans will be made against Donald Trump. Then all nations and their leaders in the government will line up to buy Venezuelan oil. It seems that India will benefit immensely.
With H.E. Selwin Hart, Assistant Secretary General and Senior
Advisor for Climate to the United Nations Secretary-General after his address on reinforcing India’s climate ambition and positioning India as a
critical partner in mobilizing global finance and resilience efforts
The ‘global south' does not exist. It is extremely important for the African and LATAM nations to realise that none of the developing nations are on their side. BRICS has expressed solidarity towards calls for reparations by African Union but has failed to build pressure on former colonists to compell them pay. On the contrary they have intensified trade with them.
In the UN we have former German Foreign minister Annalena Baerbrock as the president of UNGA and she has made public statements several times that ‘we can't change the past’, essentially hand waving to say what's done is done let's move on and that there would be no reparations made. Relevant to note here that while Germany has paid reparations to the French and to the English not a single cent has been paid to the African nations.
Secretary general of UN António Guterres is Portugese. Portugal was a leader in slave trade. It not only has not paid any reparations but made it clear that it will never do so.
India and China have deep engagements with both Germany and Portugal because it aligns with their interests. Does it align with the interest of Africa? The asymmetry in growth trajectory of Africa vs Asian nations clearly indicates that Africa once more is being left behind.
Even if Asian developing nations were on their side, they can do absolutely nothing at all to help them grow. To understand this we need to look at some of the defining moments in clean energy first.
Solar and wind technologies were pioneered in the USA. The First Solar Cell and rooftop array invented by Charles Fritts in 1883, in 1941 American engineer Russell Ohl patented the modern junction semiconductor solar cell , later USA pioneered a new material silicon unleashing the information age and solar energy revolution. All of it is American made.
Wind energy followed a similar trajectory. Charles F Brush made the first electric wind turbines in the late 1800s. Firms like Jacobs commercialised the technology as early as 1920s when rare earth permanent magnets were not even invented. These systems could easily generate tens of KW of energy powering homes. Later investment by DOE and NASA led to modern megawatt scale turbines. Again all of it American made.
Modern permanent magnets were invented in the USA too by the US Airforce materials lab.
Green technologies are not modern.They are about as old as the thermal power plants and their history coincides with the generation and transmission of electricity way back in the late 1800s( The first electric power station was built by Edison in 1882 ,the same year as the first electric wind turbine was deployed by Brush)
Why hasn't it succeeded? Well there are several reasons including allocation of capital,tech limitations,inherent tradeoffs and influence of the lobbies but they have been around for a long,long,long time.
Asian nations, especially India, often blame colonialism for their lack of growth. However the USA was colonised too and that didn't stop them. No one gave the USA a chance. Today it leads the world. The truth is that Asia does not produce leaders. It hasn't produced a leader in at least 8 centuries. Asia is a follower. Their strategy is to copy new developments and apply them to local conditions to alleviate poverty. That's what all these think tanks ever talk about. There is no desire,nor the capability to win ,just to persist and live.
The Chinese even have a saying ‘Win without fighting’ highlighting their deep cultural desire to avoid conflict.
Culture has a defining role in the fate of the nation. The ideal of self reliance on the USA produces leaders in every field. In politics,in science,in business,in engineering. People drive change. They have done the impossible over and over again.
Meanwhile it was clear from the position taken by India, at least according to the speakers at the forum, that the strategy they want to adopt is that of extortion. They want to gang up on the USA, the nation that has essentially built the green industry and force them to pay up to set up their industries. In his speech the Vice President highlighted that the developed nations must share technologies. Later speakers affirmed that India must develop products to consume domestically and export? But export to whom? To Africa? Why would African nations not want to do the same and manufacture their own goods?
Why would any sane nation ever want to invest in an entity that wants to compete with it? I deeply felt that both vision and strategy were lacking.
G20 Sherpa Mr Amitabh Kant made some startling claims regarding attacks on Venezuela being about oil, antagonising president Trump when the white House has clearly made a statement about US intervention being grounded on its long standing policy against drug trafficking and narco terrorism. While India does pay lip service to terrorism it actively engages with the terrorist state of Taliban. Recently new reports have emerged of Talibani leaders taking charge of the embassy in New Delhi! This is after MEA expressed concern when President Ashraf Ghani was kicked out by the terrorist regime. But that is their prerogative. A more pertinent question is: Would America ever invest in a state that cooperates with its enemies? Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11. USA fought a long and hard war on terror entrusting that other nations in south Asia would engage with them but it seems their trust was misplaced.
What was more concerning though was Mr Kant's economic vision. His idea of ambition, as I understood, was to position India as a market for new goods and services. He,very proudly from what it seemed ,proclaimed that nearly 400M led bulbs purchased by India brought down the price for that technology. To put that in perspective India does not manufacture a single LED chip.
I could not help but notice how the narrative kept shifting. One group of speakers wanted India to manufacture goods,the other wanted India as a market for manufactured goods to bring down the prices. One set of speakers said financing being the key problem while others claimed there's no shortage of money. The mixed messaging was confusing, to me at least.
This being a climate forum I expected some bashing of oil companies but I hoped that at least one speaker would recognise the importance of tech developed by oil and gas industry in transition to green energy especially in compression and piping. But I was left disappointed. Dr. Shamika Ravi from the PM economic council was quick to criticize President Trump's proclamation of Drill Baby Drill but it sounded a bit hypocritical considering her own government's actions. Our minister of oil Mr Hardeep Singh is busy developing new extraction sites and discoveries were announced with quite fanfare just a few months ago.
There has hardly been any global forum since the ‘war’ between Russia and Ukraine broke out on which our minister for external affairs does not make it a point to assert that India will not just buy from Russia but increase its purchase due to discount. More can be said about India's persistent efforts to diversify its oil supply as evidenced from its outreach in Guyana, Middle East and in Africa.
All green technologies today are intimately tied to oil. Whether it be glass fibers made from natural gas melting of glass or epoxy used in wind turbine blades or eva sheets in solar panels. Or even gas and coal needed to build RE infrastructure. Up until very recently oil n gas were major investors in renewable energy. Either the speakers lacked information or it was a deliberate attempt to mislead the audience. I could not be sure as to what it was.
At this point it might be important to address a larger issue. I have spoken about this before but it needs to be said again. Policy decisions in Asian nations and even in the EU for that matter are a response to American policy. While the members of parliament are congratulating themselves on the new SHANTI act let's be honest here. The only reason this act ever got legislated was because President Trump decided to back nuclear technology.
It's not just India by the way. The world bank ,IMF and IAEA, these so-called institutions that are supposed to represent the best minds ,the most capable economists and policy makers, had pretty much taken a stand against nuclear technology, possibly setting back climate goals by decades. This lost time is never coming back again.
And what's really interesting is that Annalena Baerbock ,President of the United Nations General Assembly is anti-nuclear tech. First of all no developed country would want nuclear technology that has the potential to be weaponised, in hands or any other nation and second why would they want developing nations Africa, a key exporter of nuclear fuel to build their own reactors and jeopardize their future energy security?
Consider: Many of the developed nations deny nuclear technology based on security issues. But on what grounds do they deny tech to build solar cells , panels ,turbines,generators and magnets? What destruction could they bring upon the world?
Occasionally we do get to witness dramatic shutdowns of nuclear plants like by the German government and it does succeed in achieving that surprise reaction but it hides the reality. Germany has shut down all of its nuclear plants but it imports energy from France much of which is nuclear. None of this is to say they can't transition to renewable. They can and eventually they will. But they are not doing it right now.
I don't say this to criticise but only to reinforce my point that African nations need to stop looking for guidance from other countries that may be more developed industrially or economically and start trusting themselves and invest in their growth unapologetically. I have made no secret of the fact that I wish to see African nations united in a single framework. The African Union has done exemplary work until now but it needs to step up its efforts.
The speakers often echoed the sentiment of growth rooted in justice and of course African nations should be involved in that just transition. But it's hard for me to imagine a scenario where true justice can be delivered through institutions that are based upon the laws and ideology of people who committed the injustice. Climate tech and climate change like so many other issues is not so much about concern for nature or protection of the environment but an excuse to grab power. However, those who can truly see that sustainable engineering has the potential to transform and create new kinds of industries will come out stronger than those who continue to bicker about the lack of funds or skill.
REFERENCES
CO2 Emissions in 2023
https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/33e2badc-b839-4c18-84ce-f6387b3c008f/CO2Emissionsin2023.pdf
GHG emissions of all world countries - 2024 Report
https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/report_2024
India's Power Capacity Hits 5.05 Lakh MW
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2197199®=3&lang=1
Economy: Sustainable vs. Energy-Intensive Growth Choice
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/energy/india-faces-energy-economic-growth-paradox-for-achieving-10-trillion-economy-goal-92928
India: 2025 Mid-Year Emissions Report Card
https://www.climatescorecard.org/2025/08/india-2025-mid-year-emissions-report-card/
COP29: India expresses dissatisfaction with developed countries over climate finance
https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/renewable/cop29-india-expresses-dissatisfaction-with-developed-countries-over-climate-finance/115399296
Alexus Grynkewich
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexus_Grynkewich
EU Talks Tough on Russian LNG, But Buys More Than Ever in 2025
https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/eu-talks-tough-russian-lng-buys-more-ever-2025
India’s Reliance in talks for US permit to buy Venezuelan oil, sources say
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/indias-reliance-in-talks-for-us-permit-to-buy-venezuelan-oil-sources-say?ref=latest-headlines
Invention Of The Solar Panel: The History Of Solar Energy
https://canyon.eu/blog/invention-of-the-solar-panel-the-history-of-solar-energy
Charles F. Brush
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Brush
Jacobs Wind
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobs_Wind
From 1970s Pioneers to Today’s Wind Industry, Aerospace Researchers Championed Wind Energy
https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/1970s-pioneers-todays-wind-industry-aerospace-researchers-championed-wind-energy
History and Future of Rare Earth Elements
https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/classroom-activities/role-playing-games/case-of-rare-earth-elements/history-future/
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