To achieve climate neutrality requires cooperation in fields of clean energy research and inclusive development that ensures adequate and affordable energy access. What are the pathways for a collaborative energy transition? How can Sweden and India collaborate and learn from each other?
What are the pathways to energy transition for climate neutrality for Sweden and India?
Speakers
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Tor Broström, Professor, Uppsala Universitet
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Anirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group
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Shivanand Nimbargi, Co-Chair, FICCI Renewable Energy CEOs Council and MD & CEO, Ayana Renewable Power Ltd.
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Björn Samuelsson, Lecturer, Uppsala Universitet
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Swaminathan Ramanathan, Director, Deloitte and Lecturer & Researcher, Uppsala Universitet
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Rupali Mehra, Content People AB
Key Insights
India’s Renewable Capacity and future pathways
Shivanand Nimbargi, Co-Chair, FICCI Renewable Energy CEOs Council and MD & CEO, Ayana Renewable Power Ltd. speaks about India's renewable energy capacity and 2030 targets led by various policies and regulations by the Indian government as well as alternative (ambitious) pathways by exploring green hydrogen and green ammonia. He further discusses the 'Electricity Act Amendment', increasing renewable energy capacity, and potentially becoming an exporter of alternative green sources of energy.
A ‘risk matrix’ that guides the energy debate through technology
Dr. Ramanathan broaches the question of affordability and equitability while meeting economic development objectives (specifically in relation to the energy sector) by pointing towards the need for a ‘risk matrix’ that approaches the energy debate from a systems perspective, and looks at what technologies need to be developed while also taking into consideration that they might fail, and thus, also planning for the buffer period in case of this failure. He encourages stakeholders to look at technologies that are promising, clean from end-to-end, and accessible.
Sweden’s journey on energy transitions
Speaking about Sweden’s journey to the energy transition goals for 2045, Björn Samuelsson points towards Sweden’s fortunate starting position in terms of already having a large portion of hydropower, the ability of the steel, ore mining and forest industries to take financial leaps and absorb certain possible back falls, a culture of thinking long-fold along with pro-activeness on behalf of the government and industries to find solutions through informal meetings.
The need to focus on energy transitions in the build environment by retrofitting the existing infrastructure
Speaking of energy transitions in the built environment in Sweden, Professor Tor Broström emphasises that there is already existing knowledge on how to build sustainable buildings, and the need to focus on retrofitting the existing building stock to meet these energy goals. He says, “It's about two things: 'Doing things right, and doing the right thing.' We need to begin at the latter by collecting data about the building stock, integrate them into manageable databases, and then categorise the building stock and then find engineering solutions for each category. This can be extrapolated to the building stock as a whole, and then defining packages of cost-efficient measures.”
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How India can become a green hydrogen exporter
Mr. Nimbargi elaborates on India’s potential of becoming a green hydrogen exporter through technological development and supply chain management of electrolysers that are needed in green hydrogen production. The pathway to achieving this is twofold: access to technologically advanced and competitive electrolysers, and innovation in transportation of green hydrogen over long distances. Björn Samuelsson adds to this with optimism about opportunities in India for generating affordable green energy, especially solar power, which can then be used to transport green hydrogen. By upscaling the developing of electrolysers vis-à-vis technological development, it can be made more cost-efficient.
Three key levers to break the emission problem, and need for circularity at scale
Speaking of Mahindra’s journey to net-zero, Mr. Ghosh breaks down the emission problem that industries face in three key levers: the first is to get rid of emission from electrical power generation and usage, second is looking at reducing emissions from burning fossil, and this is to enhance circularity that will enable industries to move towards becoming carbon neutral. He speaks of the need for industries to invest in energy-efficiency practices to reduce emissions from electricity, emissions from burning fossil fuels, and to invest in circularity at scale. Speaking further about collaborating at scale, Mr. Ghosh refers to the example of Lead-IT that is co-chaired by both India and Sweden in transitioning to the use of green hydrogen in hard-to-abate sectors, and can bolster collaborations since several steel companies in Sweden are already transitioning to green hydrogen, and several cement companies in India are at the fore-front of trying to decarbonise in hard-to-abate sectors, and are also piloting projects in carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).
A process-based model to finance green transition
Dr. Ramanathan approaches the process of financing the energy transition process by 1. building micro-transitions into each part of the value chain, and ultimately using a process-based system model that enables identifying the true cost of an input, how does the throughput take place, and what is the true cost of an output; 2. Moving from revenue accounting to value accounting which takes into account newer risks such as transition risk, physical risks and climate risks which financial institutions even a decade ago did not consider. Finally, he connects it to the specific needs of a region or country, such as India that is heavily dependent on energy needs for growth and development.
Anirban Ghosh: “Solutions get conceived, they get developed, gradually they become economically feasible, then they scale. We need lots of solutions to go through this entire cycle, and in this cycle we will need finance from multiple sources. Currently, the cycle exists, and thus, there is a research ecosystem. When this moves into the realm of becoming economically feasible, we'll see private sector funding, the government stepping in to scale up adoption like LEDs in India and solar panels in Germany. So, through the entire chain of development of the technology, we will have to tap into different types and sources of funding which is the most appropriate way of going about it.“