6 months ago
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Climate concern experts underscored the request for innovative superior models, reliable data, and stronger backstage information to accelerate India’s greenish transition. They were speaking astatine a sheet treatment connected ‘Financing the Green Transition: The Role of Sustainable Capital’ astatine The Hindu Sustainability Summit 2025.
T. Vivekanandhan, Lead-ESG and Sustainable Finance, Samunnati Finance, said that portion agriculture forms a important portion of India’s economy, it often remains extracurricular the mainstream greenish finance. “We absorption exclusively connected cultivation micro, tiny and mean enterprises and farmer-producer organisations, and a information of our portfolio besides includes nonstop husbandman lending. The thought is to marque agriculture portion of the greenish concern conversation,” helium said, noting that the assemblage requires much targeted concern to physique resilience and hole it for clime challenges.
He explained however planetary investors and organization funds are progressively aligning with the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), channelling funds towards companies that show measurable biology and societal outcomes.
“Earlier, the classification of greenish concern was broad, but present with frameworks specified arsenic the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, clearer definitions are emerging. This is helping to guarantee accountability successful what qualifies arsenic a greenish investment,” helium said.
Shravan Shankar, co-founder of Climake, highlighted the request for blended concern and catalytic superior to span the backing spread betwixt the nationalist and backstage sectors. “Public superior has a market-making relation — it tin de-risk investments, connection guarantees, and make enabling conditions for backstage players to participate. But scaling from billions to trillions volition necessitate backstage superior to measurement successful decisively,” helium said.
Green financing
Mr. Shankar pointed retired that portion India’s greenish financing has grown substantially — with renewable energy, electrical mobility, and vigor modulation sectors starring the mode — different captious areas specified arsenic adaptation and resilience stay underfunded. “Climate concern contiguous is flowing mostly to mitigation, not adaptation. Public superior indispensable proceed to thrust clime resilience investments that bash not output nonstop fiscal returns but person heavy societal impact,” helium added.
Gita Chengappa, General Manager of TREC-STEP, said the earliest stages of clime innovation — from prototype to impervious of conception — are the astir financially vulnerable. “Traditional financiers are wary of early-stage clime innovations. Incubators person a important relation successful de-risking specified ideas,” she said.
Ms. Chengappa said her squad is processing a clime tech concern incubator to connection timely, customised enactment for early-stage innovators. The inaugural volition besides see a sex inclusion track, led by experts, to enactment women-led enterprises, recognising that portion women often show beardown assets absorption skills, they proceed to look barriers to funds.
The panellists said the deficiency of reliable, granular datasets continues to constrain the standard and precision of climate-related investments. “Climate is section — conditions alteration crossed districts and adjacent blocks. Yet overmuch of the disposable information is aggregated astatine the nationalist oregon State level, which limits its usability for real-world hazard modelling. Without localised data, investors and innovators conflict to plan effectual solutions,” Mr. Vivekanandhan said.
The league was moderated by N. Ravi Kumar, Senior Deputy Editor, The Hindu.
