India Pledges $3.7bn to Aid State Oil Firms’ Clean Energy Shift

India is pressing hard to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels

India is to pump $3.66 billion into helping its state-run oil refiners transition to cleaner energy, as it bids to reach its 2070 net-zero carbon emission target.

India, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, also recently announced a 197 billion rupee green hydrogen programme to cut the country’s carbon intensity and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

“This builds on our focus on green growth,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said as the government presented its federal budget on Wednesday.

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“We are implementing many programmes for green fuel, green energy, green farming, green mobility, green buildings, and green equipment, and policies for efficient use of energy across various economic sectors,” Sitharaman said.

The budget also allocated 50 billion rupees for crude purchases for its strategic oil stockpile. India had released oil from its strategic reserves as part of the US-coordinated programme to calm the global oil prices.

Sitharaman also announced federal support for battery energy storage systems.

Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara

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Sean O'Meara

Sean O'Meara is an Editor at Asia Financial. He has been a newspaper man for more than 30 years, working at local, regional and national titles in the UK as a writer, sub-editor, page designer and print editor. A football, cricket and rugby fan, he has a particular interest in sports finance.