Sustainably Investing in Digital Assets Globally

Chapter 40India Is Fostering a Solarized Digital Future

How can emerging technologies help one of the world's most populous countries and one of the largest energy consumers toward sustainable and renewable energy development?

India is fostering a digital future via Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “Digital India” initiative: a national blockchain strategy that includes quantum computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence as digital technologies become the primary platform for economic activity and growth.

The IMF and the World Bank have forecasted that India's GDP will grow at the rate of 7–8% for the next few years, driving a rapid rise in its hydrocarbon‐fueled energy demand tied to growing urbanization, rising incomes, and a steadily increasing population. Studies suggest that India's share of total global primary energy demand is set to roughly double to around 11% by 2040. This has become among India's most formidable challenges to sustained GDP growth.

India is the world's second‐most populous country, the third‐largest energy consumer and CO₂ emitter, and has the highest death rates among G20 countries attributable to air pollution and related calamities. While the country contributes 7% of the world's CO₂—half that of the United States—India's CO₂ emissions are increasing faster than they are in China and the United States, seeing a 4.8% rise in 2018. It is the fourth‐largest consumer and importer of oil and natural gas while housing the fifth‐largest coal ...