Amitabh Kant, G-20 Sherpa, Government of India said that transition to a circular economy can bring significant benefits to India, ranging from environmental conservation to economic growth and job creation. It’s emphasis on reducing waste generation, promoting local production and resource optimization, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions aligns with India's commitments to sustainable development and climate change mitigation.

“When countries like India begin the long march towards growth and development, it must create a unique model of development where we become the first country in the world to industrialize without carbonizing,” he added.

Addressing the ‘FICCI Circular Economy Symposium’, Kant further stated that it is imperative for India to grow rapidly from the current rate of 7.5 per cent and accelerate the pace of growth to 9-10 per cent per annum in the years to come. The model of development for India has to be very different and to be able to do that we need to focus on bringing renewable energy in India including producing renewable energy and green hydrogen.

“India is climatically blessed to produce green hydrogen. Currently the cost of production of green hydrogen is $4.5 per kg and India’s objective is to bring is down to $1 per kg by 2030,” he added.

Kant highlighted that the world is going through massive disruption and soon the focus will be on electric mobility especially for two, three and four-wheelers. There is also the need to bring in huge energy efficiency along with huge focus on circular economy. He also emphasized that India must give thrust on the process of recycling. Circular economy is an economic system where means of production are organized around recycling, reusing the inputs so that they can be used to reduce environmental emission and facilitate a sustainable mode of production.

“We need to achieve the circularity of inputs. India is currently not circular, and the economic model is linear. There is a radical need to transit to circular economy as it opens huge possibility of innovation, disruption, help reduce greenhouse emissions,” he added.

The transition to circular economy can bring significant benefits to India and we need to become the global champions to accelerate this transition process including investing in infrastructure and encouraging innovations, noted Kant.

Dr Michael Bucki, Counsellor, Head of Section – Delegation of the European Union to India said that there is a huge potential in circular economy between India and the EU and there is a lot of room for mutual learning between the two.

Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Vice President, Regional Head- South Asia & Australia, SABIC said that rapid urbanization, deforestation, and exponential population are some of the challenges of carbon dioxide imbalance in the atmosphere and all stakeholders need to find a solution to these. “We need to focus on the concept of circular carbon economy. Carbon capture and utilization, recycling carbon-based products, becoming energy efficient and innovation in materials are few steps to achieve circular carbon economy,” he added.

Amit Sinha, Chair, FICCI National CE Committee and MD & CEO, Mahindra LifeSpace Developers Ltd said that embracing the circular economy will also be an important contribution to societies effort to handle urgent climate change challenges.

Dr Naresh Tyagi, Co-Chair, FICCI National CE Committee and Chief Sustainability Officer, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd said innovation and collaboration are the way for the industry to move towards circular economy.