As industries accelerate efforts to reduce emissions while remaining globally competitive, the focus is shifting from isolated pilot projects to scalable decarbonisation platforms. In an interview with ENERGDIVE, Dr Partha P Maitra, President – Strategy & Initiatives at Reliance Industries Ltd, shares his perspective on the commercial viability of decarbonisation technologies, the importance of carbon pricing, technology integration, and the policy measures needed to drive India's low-carbon industrial transition.
Q. Across industries, we have seen numerous successful decarbonisation pilots. What, in your view, is the biggest challenge in scaling these projects into commercially viable platforms capable of transforming entire sectors?
A. Decarbonisation is the need of the hour for India. However, technology is available but not commercially viable. So unless they make business sense, people will be reluctant to invest. I mean, essentially, they are not yet bankable projects in India, and we are looking for bankable projects to decarbonise.
Q. Energy efficiency, electrification, hydrogen, Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS), biofuels and digitalisation are all emerging as important decarbonisation levers. Which of these do you believe will have the greatest impact over the next decade?
A. For decarbonisation, there is no single lever. It has to be a mix of the levers because technological improvement is not happening at the same pace across all of them. So we have to monitor the technology improvements. We have to look at innovations which are happening, and once that happens, we will want to bet on that, provided it is a bankable project.
Q. While the business case for sustainability is strengthening, cost remains a major concern for industry. What business models, financing mechanisms or policy interventions are needed to make large-scale decarbonisation economically sustainable?
A. Every one of these can become economically viable if there is a carbon price in the country. Every one of them will fly, but because we can emit carbon dioxide and not pay the cost, that is the reason why decarbonisation is still stuck on the runway and not taking off.
"For decarbonisation, there is no single lever. It has to be a mix of the levers because technological improvement is not happening at the same pace across all of them"
Q. Industrial decarbonisation increasingly requires the integration of multiple technologies rather than reliance on a single source. How can companies build scalable platforms that combine clean energy, process innovation, digital technologies and advanced engineering to accelerate emission reduction?
A. I think that all you said, we are anyway doing it for other reasons, not for decarbonisation. But whatever is the best-in-class technology, we need to use it in a decarbonisation project as well. We cannot pick and choose technology and say, "Let us use it for decarbonisation.” We have to look at whatever is the cutting-edge technology in these other fields and put it in the decarbonisation programme
Q. As global markets increasingly reward lower-carbon products and supply chains, where do you see India's biggest opportunity to build a competitive advantage in the energy transition and emerge as a leader in low-carbon industrial growth?
A. I think India is still catching up. It will take some time. So, at the moment, we are not a leader, but I think if there is a carbon price or a carbon market, companies in India could vault into becoming global leaders.
"if there is a carbon price or a carbon market, companies in India could vault into becoming global leaders"
Q. Looking ahead to 2035, what would success look like for industrial decarbonisation in India, and which milestones should industry and policymakers track to assess whether we have truly moved from projects to platforms?
A. I think the question is the other way around. Between 2026 and 2035, there is going to be increased energy use. We will have succeeded in decarbonisation if, by 2035, the emissions do not go up as per the energy use. If they remain roughly at today's level, it would be a great boost. In other words, we would have used more energy but with a lower carbon footprint.
