At a post-Budget meet on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said sustainable growth was possible only through sustainable energy sources. The first Budget since India joined the pledge to reach net carbon zero by 2070 had a heavy focus on energy transition and climate action.

“Whatever targets India has set for itself, I do not see them as a challenge but as an opportunity,” Modi said while addressing a webinar on "Energy for Sustainable Growth". He talked of India’s target of achieving 500-gigawatt non-fossil energy capacity and achieving 50 per cent of installed energy capacity through non-fossil energy by 2030.

The meeting was attended by members from the ministries of power, petroleum, renewable energy, coal, mines, external affairs, environment, and forest and climate change.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the world was witnessing depletion of all types of natural resources and that in such a scenario, a circular economy is the demand of the hour. “We have to make it a mandatory part of our lives,” Modi said.

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Referring to the recently announced National Hydrogen Mission, the Prime Minister said India can become a hub of green hydrogen given its inherent advantage in the form of abundant renewable energy power. He asked for private sector efforts in the area.

“Provisions have also been made in this year's Budget regarding battery swapping policy and interoperability standards. These will reduce the problems faced in the use of electric vehicles in India,” he said.

He said the Budget 2022 announcement of Rs 19,500 crore for high-efficiency solar module manufacturing will help in making India a global hub for manufacturing and R&D of solar modules and related products. India is providing leadership in global collaborations like International Solar Alliance.

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Modi emphasised that along with energy production, energy-saving is equally important for sustainability. “You should work on how to make more energy-efficient ACs, efficient heaters, geysers, ovens in our country,” he advised the industry.

He gave an example of the promotion of LED bulbs at a large scale. He said that first, the government brought down the cost of LED bulbs by promoting production and then 37 crore LED bulbs were distributed under the Ujala scheme.

“This led to saving of 48,000 million Kilo Watt Hour electricity and saving of about Rs 20,000 crore rupees in the electricity bills of poor and middle-class families. Annual carbon emission also saw a decline of 4 crore tonnes. Local bodies are saving Rs 6,000 crore every year due to the adoption of LED bulbs in street lights,” he said.