SMEs struggle to achieve carbon net-zero: CII’s Sanjiv Bajaj

On the decarbonisation front, the large companies know what kind of measures they should take. The challenge is with small and mid-size companies, which is the largest part of the Indian industry.

Sanjiv Bajaj, president, CII says the industry body has suggested putting together an enabling environment to train, educate and explain the right standards for upgrading the capabilities for decarbonisation of businesses. “In this transformation of existing businesses, the move to net-zero carbon will throw up a whole set of new business opportunities and ideas as well,” he says.

There will be newer technologies that will be required. This is an area where India can cooperate with countries, which have started sustainability programmes many years ago, like Nordic countries, he says.

Another area that we need to focus is green finance. “There are already a few foreign funds that will provide attractive financing for green projects. We have to build an enabling environment to attract that capital. So training, innovation and bringing in green capital will help us transform the decarbonisation challenge into a bigger opportunity,” he says.