Viksit Bharat and Green Bharat Must Go Hand in Hand: Jayant Sinha

A developed India with a GDP of $30 trillion and a per capita income of $15,000 to $20,000 must also be green. Since development and decarbonisation are two sides of the same coin, they must occur simultaneously, according to Jayant Sinha, President of Eversource Capital and former Union Minister of State for Finance & Civil Aviation.

He pointed out that India today emits about 3.5 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases, and if current trends continue, emissions might increase to 10–12 billion tonnes by the middle of the 2040s. "India cannot be at 12 billion tonnes, or 20–25% of global carbon emissions, when the world is attempting to reach net zero by 2050." We need to reach net-zero by 2070 in order to be sustainable and competitive," he continued.
Sinha further stressed that India’s challenges go beyond carbon. “We must also consider water, clean air, forest cover, and biodiversity. To preserve the India we grew up in, we have no choice but to ensure sustainable prosperity.”

On the limitations of market mechanisms, Sinha said, “If markets alone could deliver sustainability, we wouldn’t be here discussing this. The truth is, we’re facing a massive global market failure — the cost of carbon, water, and biodiversity loss isn’t reflected in our markets. We need coordinated policy and financing to make sustainability work.”

Jayant Sinha highlighted that Delhi’s air quality is getting worse. Sinha pointed to rising vehicle emissions and dependency on fossil fuel, he said, “Delhi’s AQI is over 300, and it’s a warning. This is partially due to too many vehicular emissions and not having electric vehicles; we are using fossil fuels for transportation, resulting in a situation where the AQI in Delhi is going up. We are going to have a 3-degree centigrade increase in temperature. The maximum temperatures in Delhi are going to be over 50 degrees centigrade, and we will have 50 to 100 days of extremely high temperatures and heatwave conditions. This is the future we are going to confront if we do not move toward a decarbonised and sustainable path”, he warned.

Highlighting the urgency of innovation and finance, Sinha said, “We need to innovate at both the technology and business model levels. Investors won’t put money in unless projects generate consistent 20% returns. To make that happen, we must reduce financing costs and create blended finance instruments.”

“So that’s the challenge before us. He concluded by saying that we have an extraordinary set of opportunities ahead, but it will take the combined efforts of all of us to drive innovation, work together with our global partners, and provide the right solutions and those investments that can generate attractive rates of return, so that we can move forward on this sustainable trajectory. That we absolutely have no choice but to do.”