Barbara Buchner, Executive Director of the Climate Finance programme at the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), uses the example of India to highlight innovative financing solutions to scale up low carbon infrastructure in developing countries.
With strong policy and innovative finance, India is targeting a cleaner and more resilient economy that will improve livelihoods for millions of its citizens. Even before submitting its pledge as part of the Paris Agreement, India already had one of the most ambitious renewable energy targets of any country – to deploy 100 GW of solar power by 2022. This is over half of the amount of solar power deployed worldwide at the end of 2014, and 15 times India’s current solar deployment. India has also set a wind power target of 60GW by 2022, up from 25GW currently.
Then in October 2015, India pledged in its nationally determined contribution (NDC) submitted as part of the international climate negotiations that by 2030 non-fossil fuels would account for 40 per cent of its total energy generation capacity. According to officials involved in drawing up the plan, this would require almost 300 GW of total renewable energy capacity. Meeting these targets will require a huge increase in investment. Forthcoming CPI analysis shows the amount of investment required to achieve India’s 2022 renewable energy targets is US$189 billion.
Private sector involvement
Domestic policies and national and international public finance will all play key roles in delivering India’s renewable energy targets but greatly scaling up investment from the private sector is the only way to mobilise the full amount of capital needed. This will require addressing major barriers to increasing investment…
Barbara Buchner
Executive Director of the Climate Finance programme at the Climate Policy Initiative
