Davos 2025: Climate-Change Challenge Serious, Need Uniform Carbon Tax, Says Nadir Godrej
Climate change, which is among the top concerns expressed by policymakers and advocacy groups attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, is "getting more and more serious", according to Nadir Godrej, the chairman of Godrej Industries Ltd.
The world needs to do something to address the challenge as "we are getting close to the tipping point". The cost of adaption to combat climate change will be "greater" as compared to the cost of prevention, Godrej said while speaking to NDTV on Monday.
The logical thing would be to prevent climate change rather than adapting to it, he said, but added that this requires world leaders to set a "level-playing field". At the foremost, there is a need for uniform carbon prices all over the world, the veteran industry leader explained.
A "unform carbon tax collected by individual states" holds the potential of effectively addressing this problem, he added.
Focus On New Technology
According to the Godrej Industries chief, the focus should also be on new technologies to address climate change. This includes "regenerative agriculture", which involves adding organic carbon into the soil, he said, adding that this can improve the yields as well.
The use of green energy should be expanded, Godrej stressed, while noting that wind and solar energy are strong alternatives to conventional sources of energy, "but are sporadic".
"For base load energy, we need to look at nuclear energy.... Nuclear is an extremely green technology," he said. On being asked about the safety concerns posed by nuclear energy, Godrej said that a small modular nuclear is considered to "be very safe".
Godrej also sees huge potential in the biomass energy, which he described as a "great green fuel". He is also of the view that stubble or crop residue, which is generally burnt by farmers in autumn in the Indo-Gangetic plains, should instead be used as biomass energy.
The only problem is that biomass is "bulky and freight costs are high", he pointed out. Also, farmers do not have much time between the two different crop cycles, which compels them to burn the stubble to clear their fields.
This can be addressed if the crop cycle and crop choice could be altered, the industry leader said.
Notably, Godrej Agrovet, the agro-business arm of Godrej Industries, has been involved in the palm oil business since 1989. The business is "well established" in Andhra Pradesh, and the plan is to expand it into Telangana, Odisha and four northeastern states over the next four years, Godrej said.
"We have 65,000 hectares already planted, and are producing 120,000 tonnes of oil already... We are planning to add 100,000 hectares in the next four years," he added.
Watch: Nadir Godrej Speaks To NDTV In Davos
#NDTVAtDavos | "India's story resounding at Davos": Godrej Industries chairman Nadir Godrej (@gdijon) to Vishnu Som (@VishnuNDTV) #WEF24 #Davos2024 pic.twitter.com/hXAy1duhgh
January 19, 2024
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
-
The Curious Case of Equitas Small Finance Bank And A CEO Who Quit For Stock
PN Vasudevan believes persistent investor concerns over a perceived conflict of interest had become a governance overhang on Equitas Small Finance Bank's stock, even as the lender improved profitability and asset quality.
-
Talking Points This Week: AI Cash Burn, A Tiger Comeback And An India That Still Finds Its Own Path
India is not immune to higher oil or tighter global liquidity, yet its earnings base is broader, its domestic policy levers are still available.
-
Foreign Investors Own Half Of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. An LTCG Cut Could Matter Most Here
Foreign portfolio investors have US$115 billion parked in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank. If the government cuts long-term capital gains tax, Jefferies says returning foreign money could land here first.
