Govt, industry, consumers need to act together for transition to sustainable future: KPMG in India

New Delhi [India], December 1 : The transition to a sustainable future, characterised by 'Net Zero' carbon emission is inevitable, a KPMG report said on Tuesday, adding government, financiers, industry and consumers will need to act together to make the transition happen.
According to the report titled "Decarbonising growth -- Managing the transition" launched by KPMG in India at its 11th annual energy conclave 'ENRich 2020', decarbonisation technologies are fast gaining ground and sector-specific measures on the demand side and energy efficiency will continue to see an impact and largely align with investment and retrofit cycles.
"The eco-system comprising of policy, technology, market, investments, standards and society has to work together in a complementary manner in this transition journey. The option of cross-boundary collaborations and market mechanisms will have to be evolved even in the current geo-political dynamics as world trade is still dispersed around the globe. Universally acceptable standards to measure and navigate the journey are important to ensure transparency and accountability," the report said.
The report, which highlights the importance for businesses to identify their strategies and portfolios of technologies to meet their respective Net Zero targets, said the transition to a sustainable future, characterised by "Net Zero" is inevitable and beginning to reverberate both upstream as well as downstream owing to globally integrated supply chains.
"Decarbonisation technologies are fast gaining ground. Sector-specific measures on the demand side and energy efficiency will continue to see an impact and largely align with investment and retrofit cycles. Carbon capture, utilisation and storage and hydrogen will co-exist to play a key balancing role in hard to decarbonise sectors with the impact felt post-2030," it added.
The report also discusses the imperatives of decarbonisation highlighting the requirement of a system perspective that incorporates energy demand management, improves energy efficiency and increases the share of clean energy in the overall energy mix.
Sharing his views on the theme of the report, Anish De, Partner and National Head -- Energy Natural Resources and Chemicals, KPMG in India said that global environmental damage especially over the past century have taken us close to a point of no return.
"Perhaps we have a small action window to contain severe and irreversible damage across the board. But for this, governments and businesses have to set and act on specific and ambitious goals with set dates. Net zero is a key goal that many nations have explicitly committed to. It helps set clear direction and pathways to the ultimate objective of preservation of the planet," De said.
Santhosh Jayaram, Partner and Head - Climate Change and Sustainability, KPMG in India feels that climate change risks are now evolving as a barrier to competitiveness.
"Whether it is the country or business, the price of carbon will have to be internalized and is no longer an externality. The publication brings out the fact that the race to net-zero has started and it dwells into potential technological roadmaps in the journey. It concludes with the emphasis that all actors have a role to play in achieving the outcome," Jayaram said.
Discussing the report, Anvesha Thakker global co-head, Climate Change and Decarbonisation, KPMG IMPACT, said that Net Zero pathways will require businesses to consider both demand side as well as supply-side measures.
"In this journey, decarbonisation technologies such as renewable energy, demand electrification, CCUS, hydrogen, Biofuels may compete but will also complement with the right eco-system enablers. Businesses will need to manage this interplay while considering the alignment of their investment horizons with the maturity curves of various technologies and may also need to hedge their bets across the technological spectrum. Government has to facilitate this journey through the right policy and fiscal measures," Thakker said.
The report recommended investors and government to enhance investment into research and development and commercial deployment of decarbonisation technologies for harder-to-abate sectors and create financing mechanisms for an inclusive transition.
It also suggested companies to identify a portfolio of technologies to meet their 'Net Zero' target in their specific areas of operations and create a conducive environment for deep tech research and development and innovation.