2024 was the hottest year in India’s history.

24 days of extreme heatwaves

More than 40,000 heatstrokes

Hundreds of deaths 

A ‘net zero energy economy’ is the urgent need of the hour. Arunabha Ghosh is determined to help the country pull it off. A big-systems thinker, climate scientist, and founder of the Council for Energy, Environment and Water he is helping the country put together a “green vision” for survival while maintaining exponential growth. 

A Climate Carousel

India’s power requirement will double in the next 5 years. So will its demand for water. Of the world’s 20 most polluted cities, 13 are in the country. Whether the country sinks or survives hinges on the three-dimensional nature of the country’s future policies - an inspirational union between energy, environment and policy. But much like its diversity, India’s climate crisis is a jigsaw of many incompatible parts. You poke one piece and risk upending another. Despite these challenges, Ghosh believes it can be done “by bringing people back at the centre of policy.”

Ghosh has interesting ideas. But first, let’s lay out the challenges. 

India aims to become a net zero economy by 2070. By 2030, the country aims to cut a quarter of its coal power generation. By 2080, Ghosh believes we should also aspire to rid 80 cities of 80 percent of the air pollution. He calls it the “80-80-80” vision. To add to that, India faces the unique challenge of racing towards becoming a developed country while staying within the lane of its environmental commitments. It’s not merely a tightrope of ‘transition’ but as Ghosh argues, a generational “paradigm shift”.

Questions. Questions. Questions.

Will solar become saviour? Will hydrogen become the fuel of tomorrow? Are EVs as clean as they are touted to be? Can India match its global climate commitments while meeting domestic energy goals? Is the country’s federal structure an advantage or a disadvantage? How do we map its rural woes with ongoing urban disasters? Can tech like AI play a role? The conveyor belt of questions continues to spill over the collecting bucket of consensus. Consensus, that Ghosh believes is essential to making this ‘fundamental shift.’

He argues that energy systems should be decentralised, that they must be priced as a pay-as-you-use model, that the country must accommodate interdependence in the global supply chain, trust digital solutions, make climate investments attractive, link decarbonisation and digitalization and move to a circular economy. To pull all of this off, though, you need money, motivation and multiple open marriages between individuals, states, institutions and common citizens. “It’s not just a marathon, but also a relay. No one can afford to drop the baton,” he has said.

A Make or Break Decade

Climate’s implications might be universal but its goalposts are wired to the idiosyncrasy of a nation’s history, geography, economy, policies and culture. India’s challenges therefore necessitate an Indian outlook. At least some of these puzzle pieces, Ghosh argues, have to fall into place over the next decade.

At SYNAPSE 2025, Ghosh will open his ledger of data and policy insights to draw a framework for India’s energy transition, the role solar and EVs will play in it, bridging the rural urban divide, making climate investments, balancing growth and environmental conscience, linking the decarbonisation and digitalization revolutions. And making all of that attractive.

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