There is great effectiveness of individual action in solving the climate crisis - Talk by Mr. Sumant Sinha

October 27th, the virtual DAIS Leadership Series was graced by the presence of Mr. Sumant Sinha, the Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of ReNew Power – one of India’s largest clean energy companies.

Mr. Sinha founded ReNew Power in January 2011, starting with a small wind project in Gujarat and a vision to transform the way energy is produced and consumed in India. Since then, under his leadership, ReNew Power has grown exponentially to emerge as one of India’s premier renewable power producers, spanning more than 100 sites across India. It is now among the top fifty companies in the country by total assets, across all sectors, with the fastest rate of growth of assets in India between 2015-20. It is also ranked seventh among all Indian unicorns by valuation. Today, ReNew generates one per cent India’s total electricity annually, and in doing so, also helps mitigate half a per cent of India’s carbon emissions in a year.

Mr Sinha is a passionate advocate for solutions related to climate change through the intersection of business and public policy and is a member of the Stewardship Board on Shaping the Future of Energy at the World Economic Forum and serves as the Chair of the Climate Group’s India Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF). He chairs the CII’s Renewable Energy Council. He is on the Board of Governors of prestigious institutions such as IIM Calcutta, IIM Sirmaur, IIT Delhi and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). He is also an alumnus of IIT Delhi (B. Tech), IIM Calcutta (PGDBM) and School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia (Masters).

For his achievements in the areas of entrepreneurship and clean energy, he has won several awards including “Chairman Of The Year” at the Stevie International Business Awards 2020, The Entrepreneur India’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, 2019, the coveted “Economic Times Entrepreneur of the Year Award’, 2018, and “Outstanding Start-up of the Year”- Forbes India Leadership Awards for ReNew Power 2017. He has also been conferred Distinguished Alumnus Awards – by IIM Calcutta (2019) and IIT Delhi (2018) and was listed as a Global Sustainable Hero in 2019 by Greentech Capital Advisors.

During the engaging session, Mr. Sinha elucidated upon his ventures into sustainable energy, and what led to him getting involved in this industry. He stressed the importance of protecting the environment, and how that inspired him to start this enterprise. He also discussed the future of renewable energy in the world, and the important role that India will play in this.

Through an interactive question and answer session, he answered several questions that the students had regarding his career, the effectiveness of individual action in solving the climate crisis, and the impact of politics on the future of climate change. He shed light on the imperative need to work towards protecting our environment, and how the lucrative industry of renewable energy provides a pertinent key to this problem. At the end of the session, students were left feeling inspired and informed, filled with the determination to do their parts to contribute to solving the climate crisis.