NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian government is working on a policy to classify economic activities and technologies into sustainable and unsustainable categories to help investors looking for environmentally friendly projects. Yes, three government officials said.
Under this proposal, similar to the Green Taxonomy pioneered by the European Union (EU), the government hopes to certify sustainable activities, raise more money and give investors more peace of mind. Three government officials said they were not allowed to speak to the media and would like to be named.
The Ministry of Renewable Energy and the Ministry of Finance are working on a draft policy. Neither ministry responded to inquiries from Reuters.
Officials said the draft framework is the first step in a long process of identifying sustainable projects and phasing out others.
The European Union and South Africa have created a taxonomy to help visualize green activities and free up large amounts of capital, some of the policy’s proponents say, but critics say it’s “Greenwashing,” and that buzzwords and public relations cover up activities that are not environmentally friendly.
The EU also imposes green investment disclosure obligations on financial companies, pension funds, corporations and financial market participants.
India has no plans to mandate such disclosures for companies yet, but will view it as best practice, one of the officials said.
India needs $10-15 trillion investment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2070, in line with its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) I predict it will.
Another official said India needs $3 trillion in investment to reach that figure and is taking steps to do so, including incentives for the production of hydrogen fuel, electric vehicles and solar panels.
International bond markets are likely to contribute a small portion of the funding, while the rest will be funded through locally invested global fund managers, another official said.
Last week, India sold its first green sovereign bonds worth a total of 80 billion rupees at lower yields than comparable government bonds.
($1 = 81.5720 Indian Rupees)
Reported by Sarita Chaganti Singh.Editing by Jerry Doyle
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