Energetica India - June 2020

How the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the cleantech ecosystem? If our goal is to see new sustainable technologies succeed in reducing carbon emissions, overcome climate change, water scarcity, air pollution we must create products that consumers and businesses want and can adopt in large numbers. Merely solving a technology challenge means little if investors do not back the creative startups that will take every advance and run with it till the end. We need to create an ecosystem that will incentivize and nurture clean technology innovation and diffusion, and also encourage development and widespread adoption. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed to the world how capable the global economy is to deal with systemic risks. As a developing country, India is at the crossroads of economic development and environmental sustainability. The pandemic might have slowed down our growth at the moment but the transition to an environment friendly growth para- digm would require a shift to a resource efficient economy. Many believe that the pandemic is a cri- sis of our own making. Biodiversity is de- clining faster than at any time in human history, climate change is destroying nat- ural habitats and multiplying risks, natu- ral resources like fossil fuels, water and minerals are depleting rapidly and un- checked pollution of air and water bodies is undermining ecosystem health. Many countries and policy leaders are now looking at adopting environment-friendly and sustainable practices & technology. The situation at hand has opened their eyes to the way we are treating the en- vironment and what can happen if we do not pick sustainable practices over short-term benefits. Recently, a global think tank, The Energy Transitions Com- mission (ETC), comprising leaders from across energy, industry, finance and civil society, outlined key priorities to support economic recovery from the ongoing coronavirus crisis and highlighted the energy transition required to avoid a cli- mate crisis in the future. Clean technology is being looked at as the underpinning of inclusive growth ev- erywhere. Every sector of the economy, be it industry, infrastructure, the service sector, solar, agriculture, has potential for clean technology interventions that will help in the transition to a sustainable growth path in the long term. Let’s look at how the cleantech ecosystem can be developed about in the country - Developing consistent policy frameworks The role government and legislators play is key to the future of cleantech and there is much that they can do to improve the regulatory and policy environment for in- novators and entrepreneurs. For exam- ple, a report by EY & FICCI states that China has been stepping up its efforts to support its flagging solar sector. It’s been doing so by urging lenders to ease financing constraints and give tax breaks to companies, using M&A to reorganize their operations. It had also increased its 2015 domestic solar target by 67% to 35GW and was promoting competition in the market through consolidation and overseas investment. Today, China’s re- newables and energy efficiency targets have made it one of the global leaders in the cleantech market. Investing in sustainable technologies According to a study conducted by the German govt, the global cleantech mar- ket is anticipated to reach US$3 trillion by 2025, up from US$601bn in 2014. This will give investors an exciting op- portunity to invest in new businesses that not only impact the environment but also offer significant growth potential for years to come. Strong drivers like popu- lation growth, resource constraints, alter- native jobs will see more public opinion recognizing the need for cleantech. In the US, a recent Cleantech Group report has shown that big corporations and ‘Big IT’ like GE, BP, Google and Apple, are increasingly making major investments in cleantech. These com- panies are realizing that cleantech can help them drive durable growth and cre- ate differentiation while at the same time 54 energetica INDIA- June_2020 Manish Das Co-Founder & Director, Skilancer Solar