A technological leapfrog will transform India: Amitabh Kant

Rajasthan: India A technological leapfrog will transform India and the country must seize the opportunity to lead in clean-tech manufacturing amid global disruptions, India's G20 Sherpa and former Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said.

In an interview with PTI on the sidelines of the Centre for Science and Environment's annual Anil Agarwal Dialogue, Kant also acknowledged that the lack of financial support from developed nations, historically responsible for climate change, could impact developing countries' new climate targets.

Kant said disruptions in global trade have created a significant opportunity for India. "There is a vacuum, and India can fill it. By doing so, we can accelerate economic growth," he said.

He said that India has made remarkable technological progress in areas like fintech, citing UPI as an example.

"We should replicate this success in clean-tech manufacturing, including solar energy, green hydrogen, batteries and electric vehicles. This is an opportunity for India to exceed 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Technological disruptions are inevitable and we must be the first to lead. A technological leapfrog will transform India," he said.

Kant warned that if India fails to seize this opportunity, it will become dependent on imports. "If India does not seize this opportunity, we will become dependent on China for imports. Our spending on clean-tech imports will far exceed what we currently spend on oil," he said.

Asked whether insufficient funding from developed countries would impact the new climate goals of developing nations, Kant agreed.

"The developed world, responsible for financing climate action in developing countries, has failed to provide adequate funds. They did not fulfil their promise of $100 billion annually by 2020. Developing nations need $1.3 trillion per year and the total requirement for both climate and sustainable development goals is $3 trillion," he said.

Kant said that developing nations are not responsible for the climate crisis.

"We did not cause global carbonisation; developed countries are responsible for 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. It is extremely difficult for developing nations to meet their climate targets and decarbonise without adequate support," Kant said.

Countries are required to submit their next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), or climate plans, for the 2031-2035 period this year.

The collective aim of these climate plans is to limit global temperature rise since the start of the Industrial Revolution to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the key goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Developed countries, historically responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change, were required to deliver a new and ambitious financial package to support climate action in the developing world at the UN climate conference in Azerbaijan last year.

However, they offered a paltry $300 billion by 2035, a mere fraction of at least $1.3 trillion needed annually from 2025.

India had called the sum "too little, too distant", "paltry" and "an optical illusion". The government's Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled in Parliament in January said the lack of funding from developed countries to mitigate climate change in the Global South may prompt developing countries to "rework" their climate targets.