India will need about $22.7 trillion in cumulative investment by 2070 to reach net-zero emissions — and faces a funding gap of about $6.5 trillion that domestic money alone cannot fill, according to a new report by Australian economist Nicki Hutley released on Monday, November 9, ahead of the COP31 climate conference.

Source: Nation Press

The report, titled 'India's Net Zero Transition is the World's Net Zero Transition', draws on analysis by the government think tank NITI Aayog. It estimates that India can realistically finance just over 70 per cent of the requirement from domestic resources, leaving international capital to cover at least 40 per cent of the projected funding gap, the Indus Business Journal reported.

Source: Indus Business Journal

The energy sector alone accounts for roughly half of the total requirement, the report says, across renewable energy, electricity grids, storage and emerging clean technologies. Hutley, an economist associated with Australia's Climate Council with more than three decades in financial markets, argues that India's transition should be seen not only as a climate obligation but as one of the world's largest long-term investment opportunities.

India has set a target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 and becoming a developed economy by 2047, the centenary of its independence. The report argues that whether India can reconcile rapid economic growth with deep emission cuts will have consequences far beyond its own borders, given its rising energy demand and growing share of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

The report's release was timed ahead of COP31, the UN climate conference being held in Turkey, where climate finance for developing economies is again a central negotiating issue. (Sources: Nation Press; Indus Business Journal; Meridian Report summary of the Hutley report.)