Roundtable Consultation of TERI Expert Group on Financing India’s LT-LCDS
The TERI Expert Group on Financing India’s Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategies (LT-LCDS) convened a high-level roundtable, hosted in association with the World Trade Center, Mumbai and the All India Association of Industries (AIAI) on 24 October 2024.
The event brought together stakeholders from financial and industrial landscape, including officials from the Reserve Bank of India, SEBI, Axis Bank, Tata Cleantech Capital Limited, Nippon Steel and The World Bank. The dialogue highlighted the need for policy alignment and innovative financing mechanisms to address the financing challenges critical to enabling India’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
In his remarks, Mr Pramod Rao, Executive Director, SEBI informed about the measures taken by the market regulator to safeguard investors and promote investment in genuine decarbonization projects. He pointed out that SEBI has been taking investor assurance measures to promote investor confidence and to sustain flow of funds into genuine decarbonization projects. Mr Rao highlighted the concern of ‘green washing’, where borrowers raise funds by making false claims to investors about the environment sustainability or ESG credentials of a project.
Mr R R Rashmi, Distinguished Fellow, TERI suggested MSMEs to adopt low cost methods to reduce carbon emissions, including deployment of energy efficient technologies & practices, adoption of circular economy practices and electrification. He informed that the Government of India is preparing sectoral energy transition roadmap as part of its Low Emission Development Strategy.
Participants at the Roundtable Consultation emphasized the need to align India’s economic activities with climate-positive initiatives to support the country’s net-zero emissions target for 2070, announced at COP26 in Glasgow. The deliberations reflected on the need for multilateral support, innovative technologies, and tailored financing models to meet the evolving challenges of low-carbon development.
