”They signed in 2015, promised for 2020, and now are kicking the can down the road to 2023 or 2024, for resources that are no longer enough.”While, Brazil's environment minister, pulled no punches while laying into developed countries at the recently concluded climate summit in Glasgow. What got his goat was these nations' failure to provide the committed $100 billion a year in climate finance to their poorer counterparts.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has demanded the figure be raised to $1 trillion.
Even as India fights to get more from rich countries for climate change mitigation and adaptation, it's not doing a whole lot better on the private investment front. Since January 2020, just over $440 million has trickled into Indian climate and clean tech startups by way of early-stage funding. That's a fraction of the $40 billion global investments in the space in the 18 months to August.
“I haven’t found Limited Partners (LPs) in India who have an appetite for climate tech. The return on investment [here] is lower when compared to other sectors,” says a former entrepreneur and management expert who is raising a $200 million climate tech fund. It goes without saying that government reforms are the need of the hour, including steps to resuscitate indebted power utilities, which, in turn, will improve the appeal of clean power producers.
But there's a more powerful antidote: what consumers want.
For instance, as batteries become cheaper, people will generate their own energy from rooftop solar, store it in their battery, and run it in their vehicle during the day, and use it at home at night, according to the CEO of a rooftop solar power company. Suddenly, the utilities' hold over users is not what it used to be.
Deepening local demand for climate-friendly alternatives is the first big step in winning the climate battle, and global private capital will follow,I guess so?? #yusufbhandarkar