United Nations, February 17 – With India "emerging as a global leader in renewable energy expansion," the UN is organizing a roundtable on the matter, which is a high priority for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during his visit to New Delhi, according to his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric.
The meeting of senior leaders from industry, finance, policy, and civil society will "discuss renewable energy and energy transition, with India emerging as a global leader in renewable energy expansion," he said.
He said the meeting "is part of the Secretary-General's continued efforts to advance a faster, fairer, and more inclusive global energy transition, in line with the Paris Agreement."
The agenda of the meeting is to come up with concrete steps towards these goals in a range of areas, including renewable energy development, strengthening the grid and storage, and mobilizing investment, Dujarric added.
India is committed to reducing its GDP emissions intensity of greenhouse gases to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, raising the share of non-fossil fuel electric power capacity to 50 per cent, and creating a carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said last week that India has already achieved nearly two-thirds of its nationally determined contributions in fighting climate change four years ahead of schedule.
She said this was achieved through its own funding and deployment of technology.
"Six years ago, we were spending approximately 3.7 per cent of our GDP on climate action. Today, that figure is close to 5.6 per cent," she said.
"We are not waiting for financing and technology to come from elsewhere – but they must come," she said.
Guterres is travelling to India to participate in the AI Impact Summit 2026, a major global gathering on artificial intelligence that is taking place in the Global South for the first time at this scale.
The Summit, organized by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, is taking place in New Delhi from February 16 to 20. It will bring together governments, international organizations, industry leaders, academics, and civil society to examine how artificial intelligence can be harnessed responsibly to advance sustainable development.
