
22 Apr 2022
The global journey towards decarbonisation continues to gather pace, and India has set its own ambitious targets for clean energy transition. India has taken significant strides forward and can further inculcate valuable lessons from global leaders. Last year’s COP 26 conference in Glasgow was indicative of India’s climate change ambitions. The country has committed to achieve net zero emissions by 2070 and has also made a host of commitments including carbon intensity reduction, emission reduction and non-fossil fuel energy capacity growth.
A key lever to achieve decarbonisation is the commercial and industrial sector that consumes a massive amount of energy (electricity and fuel) for various processes across their value chain. The ability of the corporates to procure renewable energy (RE), by purchasing through distribution companies, through a third-party, or building their own generation facilities, continues to expand. In a bid to fulfil their ambitious targets and to honour their commitments towards emission disclosure under international initiatives, several corporates have already begun procuring RE.
Despite the progress made by the Indian Corporates towards procurement of RE, several challenges, such as limited information on initiatives by industry peers and a lack of clarity on available RE options, need to be addressed to further accelerate RE adoption.
Initiatives to accelerate corporate RE procurement in India
RE100
The RE100 is a global initiative led by the Climate Group, in partnership with CDP. It aims to accelerate the shift towards 100% RE. It has over 300 members of which four companies are headquartered in India i.e. Infosys, Tata Motors, Dalmia Cement and Mahindra Holidays and Resorts.
There are more than 40 international companies in RE100 list that have presence in India, who are shifting their 16 operations to adopt RE.
CDP Disclosures
CDP is an international not for profit organisation that runs the global disclosure system documenting the environmental impact of various stakeholders like companies, cities, states and regions. The CDPs disclosure system allows companies to benchmark themselves to industry peers, increase visibility and identify opportunities or risks to business.
As of 2020, more than 9,600 companies, accounting for over 50% of global market capitalisation, disclosed their environmental impact through CDP including 220 Indian companies.
Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)
The Science Based Targets initiative aims to help private sector companies set science-based emissions reduction targets. It is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, WRI and WWF. In this initiative, 56 companies are from India and 24 of them have set specific targets for both Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
Renewable Energy Demand Enhancement (REDE) Initiative for Corporate Buyers in India
WWF India and CII partnered to develop the REDE initiative that aims to promote RE demand of C&I consumers. This provides a national forum to discuss the challenges for large-scale corporate RE procurement and present them to stakeholders to evolve practical and commercially viable solutions.
There are multiple pathways and enablers available to increase RE adoption like providing a supportive financing environment for such projects, creating a favourable policy and regulatory environment for RE adoption and setting robust adoption targets. The promotion of corporate RE adoption stands out as a promising option for India to decarbonise the energy sector.
Read the full report ‘Insights to accelerate corporate renewable energy procurement’: https://www.mycii.in/KmResourceApplication/77683.InsightstoAccelerateCorporate