Webinar on Mobilising Green Finance for Industry Transition

The virtual discussion will focus on understanding the barriers to accessing green finance from the Indian steel industry perspective, and exploring how these differ from the challenges faced by the industries in developed economies.

TERI has been focusing on understanding the challenges and requirement for transitioning heavy industries to lower carbon pathways. A recent study by TERI, supported by the German government's International Climate Initiative (IKI), was conducted with an aim of identifying the regulatory, capacity and market gaps existing for transitioning the Indian steel and cement industries to a low carbon pathway, and the impact this has on the availability of green finance for these industries.

The report identifies three broad categories of inter-linked barriers faced by the heavy industry, particularly the steel and cement sectors – demand-side, supply-side and finance-side. At the core is the issue of the existing policy and regulatory framework not giving clear directives for a green transition of heavy industries in India and lacking the measures required to support them in undertaking such actions .

There is a need to strengthen the policy framework for greening heavy industries and ensuring its effective implementation in a manner that does not obstruct their growth by making them uncompetitive. There is a role that carbon markets and climate finance mechanisms can play to address this challenge, and this is already taking place in some parts of the world, notably the EU.

In our discussion we will focus on understanding the barriers to accessing green finance from the Indian steel industry perspective, and exploring how these differ from the challenges faced by the industries in developed economies. We will then deliberate on measures to address these barriers, specifically exploring the relevant market mechanisms that can be deployed to mobilise domestic and international climate finance for driving a much-needed green industry transition.

Chair

• Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI

Panellists

• Prof Karsten Neuhoff, Head - Department of Climate Policy, DIW Berlin
• Ms Madhulika Sharma, Chief of Corporate Sustainability, Tata Steel
• Mr Prabodha Acharya, Chief Sustainability Officer, JSW Steel
• Mr Hari Gadde, Senior Climate Change Specialist, Carbon Markets and Innovation, the World Bank
• Ms Namita Vikas, Founder and Managing Partner, auctusESG LLP
• Mr Will Hall, Associate Fellow, TERI