GT Voice: Space for China and India to cooperate on green energy is growing

India Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

According to the Indian Meteorological Department, the Indian capital recorded the highest-ever temperature on Wednesday, exceeding 52 degrees Celsius. It was the highest temperature ever recorded in India.

As an unusually brutal heatwave has scorched parts of India for weeks, severe electricity shortages have impacted the health and livelihoods of millions of people and damaged economic activity.

The situation has sparked scrutiny of India’s energy supply shortfalls, highlighting the importance of integrating low-carbon production and emission reductions into the development of the country’s manufacturing sector.

India is reportedly the world’s second-largest producer and consumer of coal, generating over 70 percent of the country’s electricity. The Indian government has been trying to increase domestic coal production for years to reduce its dependence on coal imports. In fiscal year 2024, India produced a record 1.04 billion tonnes of coal and lignite, up 10.97% year-on-year and a record high.

However, India’s frequent heatwaves continue to increase coal imports. According to media reports, in the first quarter of this year, India’s thermal coal imports amounted to 42.79 million tonnes, up 23.8% year-on-year. It is because of the over-reliance on coal for power generation that energy supply crises caused by coal shortages have not been uncommon in India for years.

Moreover, as climate change intensifies heatwaves and India’s manufacturing sector continues to expand, demand for electricity is expected to increase.

This will create greater energy shortages, highlighting the country’s urgent need to diversify its energy sources by switching to renewable energy.

By comparison, China has already made remarkable progress in improving its energy mix. It cannot be denied that coal power remains the main source of electricity supply in China, but the share of coal power in China’s energy mix has declined significantly.

Meanwhile, in 2023, China’s installed renewable energy capacity exceeded thermal capacity for the first time, and China accounted for more than half of the world’s newly installed renewable energy capacity.

While India may not follow the same path as China in developing electric vehicles and the manufacturing sector when it comes to tackling the common challenge of global climate change, India can still learn from China’s experience in meeting its commitments on emission reduction through infrastructure development. This is because low-carbon production and emission reduction should continue to be important elements of the development of Indian industry in the long term.

In any case, low-carbon production and the transition to green energy are not only obligations to international society, but also key to India’s sustainable development, both in terms of energy security and environmental protection.

To achieve the goal of transitioning to a greener economy, the transformation of India’s infrastructure, especially energy infrastructure, is crucial. These measures could include significant investments in renewable energy projects such as solar, wind and hydropower to increase the share of clean energy sources in the energy mix.

India’s cooperation with other countries, especially China, on low-emission production is also necessary.

Faced with the common challenge of sustainable development of the production sectors of both countries, there is increasing scope for green cooperation between China and India. For example, China has the world’s largest solar power generation capacity. It also has extensive experience and technology in these fields – exactly what India needs as it transforms its energy infrastructure. Through technical cooperation, India can improve the efficiency and reliability of its energy infrastructure.