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Mumbai ( Maharashtra) : Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Industries Ltd. in a Fireside Chat with Dr R A Mashelkar, President, Pune International Centre (PIC) on February 23, 2022, on “Green Energy for a Sustainable Future” at Asia Economic Dialogue 2022, said that India is likely to overtake Japan as Asia’s second-largest economy, and the world’s third largest economy by 2030. He told Dr Mashelkar that he was very confident that the India Growth Story will be as exciting, if not more exciting, than China’s in the decades to come. The Economic Dialogue 2022 has been organised with the support External Affairs Ministry, GoI.
Mukesh Ambani said it is becoming more obvious with each passing year that the 21st century will be Asia’s Century as the centre of gravity of the global economy has clearly shifted to Asia. From the 1st to the 18th century, Asia was leading the world in global GDP, he said. After suffering a retreat in the last two centuries, Asia is now making a strong comeback, Ambani added. In 2020, Asia’s GDP overtook the GDP of the rest of the world combined, he said and added that by 2030, the Asian region is expected to contribute roughly 60% of global growth. Asia accounts for 60% of the world’s population, Ambani said.
The CMD, RIL, Mukesh Ambani,, said that more Asians will join the middle class in the next two decades than the combined population of all other continents. It means, Asia is leading the march towards a more inclusive global economy, he said and added that the mismatch between DEMOGRAPHY and DEVELOPMENT is closing. All this goes to show that a RESURGENT ASIA will contribute to a MORE EQUAL WORLD, said Ambani.
Speaking on “Green Energy for a Sustainable Future”, Ambani said that the only planet in the entire universe which is home to human life and to countless other living species is Planet Earth. And Planet Earth is facing an existential crisis because of Climate Change. The Climate Crisis is essentially Energy Crisis, Ambani said adding the the excessive use of fossil fuels in the past two hundred years has gravely endangered the fragile ecology of the planet.
” Of course, it has brought prosperity to a large part of the global community. But this prosperity has been at the cost of the planet’s environment and ecosystem….and is therefore unsustainable. Climate Change is the biggest threat today to mankind’s future well being. It is an even graver threat to plant and animal species, which are indeed our “PLANETARY RELATIVES”. After all, humans, animals, and trees are not adversaries competing for space on this planet, ” Ambani said.
The CMD, Reliance Industries Ltd, said that as a lover of wildlife and nature himself and as someone who likes to spend time in nature parks and wildlife sanctuaries, he can it is our responsibility to conserve all these precious gifts of Mother Nature and pass them on to our future generations.
” Therefore, the transition from Old Energy to New, Green and Clean Energy is not an option; it is an urgent imperative. Our very survival depends on how quickly we embrace planet-friendly renewables like solar, wind and hydrogen. Energy Transition will also determine Geopolitical Transition in the 21st century. when wood was replaced with coal, Europe overtook India and China to emerge the world leader. Similarly, with the emergence of oil, the US and West Asia outgrew others. When India becomes not only self-sufficient in Green and Clean Energy, but also a large exporter, it will help India emerge as a global power. India will demonstrate that prosperity for all people and prosperity for our planet are not mutually contradictory goals. This transition will generate a huge number of GREEN JOBS. It will also mean massive foreign exchange savings, since Energy and Electronics are today India’s biggest import bills,” Ambani said.
Ambani said Green and Clean Energy ensures better health and better quality of life for everyone on the planet. “Therefore, I believe the transition to NEW ENERGY will indeed lead to a new EARTH-FRIENDLY INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION,” he said.
Speaking on Earth-Friendly Industrial Revolution, Ambani said, ” If we see the trajectory of the first three Industrial Revolutions, we find that they basically disrupted the harmony between human beings and nature. The economic growth in the past few centuries was premised on the principle of control and exploitation of nature and natural resources or earth’s resources. In contrast, the transition to GREEN AND CLEAN ENERGY represents a disruption of a reverse kind. I think we are now beginning to learn from MOTHER NATURE. Our new energy technologies are mimicking Mother Nature insofar as they convert sunshine and hydrogen in water into energy. Mother Nature has also created a virtuous Carbon Cycle, in which carbon is not a liability but an asset. In course of time, Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies will attain scale and help reduce the carbon load in the atmosphere.”
He said there there is another way in which NEW ENERGY represents an Earth-Friendly Industrial Revolution. In the era of fossil fuels, industrial activities are highly centralised. This is because coal and oil are centralised at their origin and have to be transported to large distances.
“In contrast, in the coming era of ABUNDANT and AFFORDABLE CLEAN AND GREEN ENERGY, with utility-scale battery storage, it is possible to envision that every house, every farm, factory and habitat could, in principle, free itself from the grid by generating its own power. The world is also developing technologies that use less land to produce all the more we need. You always say that “more from less”, and that is what is happening at a world scale all around us. We can earmark more land for forests, which also acts as natural carbon sequesters.This is what I mean by the need to transition from INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION to ECOLOGICAL REVOLUTION or EARTH-FRIENDLY INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION,” Ambai added.
Ambani sauid that the vision of an Earth-friendly Industrial Revolution has prompted Reliance to adopt CARE FOR THE PLANET, along with CARE FOR THE PEOPLE, as the guiding principle of everything we do in all our businesses and philanthropic activities.
Speaking on 3Ds, namely Digitalization, Decentralisation and Decarbonisation, Mukesh Ambani said,”I have absolutely no doubt that India can, and India will emerge as a global New Energy leader. Just see yesterday, our Renewable Energy Minister announced Hydrogen pumps. Wwe have put our vision of exporting Green Energy out of India on the table. So, we are early, I believe that our Prime Minister believes in ensuring that this next generation of Indians will not only be self-sufficient and Atmanirbhar in our energy, but India can export Green Energy. And my optimism and confidence really stems from three reasons. First: India is a country full of entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and youth.Second: We now have proactive and forward-looking policy support and action from the government, both at the central and the state level. Third: Our entrepreneurs now have assured financing options.”
The CMD, RILI, Mukesh Ambani said, ” I foresee at least 20-30 new Indian companies in the energy and tech space which will grow as big as Reliance, if not bigger, in the next 10-20 years. India’s progress is unstoppable. We will become 5-trillion-dollar economy, and we will become 10-trillion-dollar-economy. We can only argue about whether it happens in 2025 or 2027 or whether in 2030 or 2032. So, when that happens, the quality of life of every Indians has to improve. Today, our per capita energy consumption is one-third of the world. I think for quality of life of all Indians, India’s own domestic demand for Energy will be enormous.
Ambani said an average Indian’s carbon emissions are less than half of the world average. Indians won’t have to make too many lifestyle changes to become carbon neutral. India’s per capita income today is around $2,000, compared to Europe’s $38,000. “I believe that with our progress, we will reach $10,000 per capita in the next 15-20 years,” he added.
The government is proactive in meeting the financing needs of New Energy sector, Ambani said and added that the recent announcement in Union Budget about the launch of Sovereign Green Bonds is a step in that direction. India achieved its target of 40% power generation of renewables of the target that was set for 2030, in 2021 itself. ” And I believe that we will be ahead of this target. India aims to achieve 500 GW of renewable power capacity, which I am sure we will meet. So, right now on the basis of what I see, I am very optimistic.,” Ambani said.
Ambani said that India has to address three challenges : One, India must increase energy output to drive double-digit GDP growth, and we have to do it at an affordable basis of the use of technology; Second, India must increase the share of Green and Clean Energy in this enhanced output; and third, India must achieve the goal of ‘Self-reliance or Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in pursuing the above two challenges.
“This of course, cannot happen overnight. For the next 2-3 decades, India’s dependence on coal and imported oil will continue. But we must have a plan to eliminate that in the next 2-3 decades. Hence, in the near and medium term, we will have to follow LOW-CARBON, and NO-CARBON, strategies of development, ” Ambani said..
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