World on 'overswing' of green energy solutions: Gautam Adani tells WEF

Time is for 'global collaboration rather than cooperation', says the billionaire as he comments on climate change and coronavirus.

The world is on an "overswing on the side of green solutions" and new technologies had proved fragile in the Ukraine crisis, said Adani group chairman Gautam Adani on Thursday at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Pointing out the "sparse" attendance of China, Japan and Korea this year at Davos, Adani said the meeting was one-sided and a "cause for concern". Countries are growing close-minded and withdrawing behind their borders as they respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

"The response to the pandemic, around the world, has been a strange mix of ingenuity and global cooperation on the one hand and blatant selfishness on the other," he said while talking about paradoxes such as the contrast in speed of vaccine development via cross-border collaborations and the "deep mistrust, suspicion, prejudice, and greed" in its rollout, availability and pricing.

Adani argued that the response to the coronavirus was now being repeated in energy. Developed nations that set climate change targets for the rest of the world were now "less censorious" as their own energy security is threatened. "Very few are willing to admit that there had been an overswing on the side of green solutions and technologies that were still in their nascent stage and that this fragility has been totally exposed by the crisis in Ukraine," he said.

Adani rued over the fact that more than climate change, several of the delegates that he met at Davos ended up discussing defence, triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.

"When you overlay these concerns with resentment over the uneven distribution of Covid vaccines and the uncertainty around energy supply, it is understandable that nations (even those that are in NATO) are beginning to see sense in augmenting their border security. Almost every leader I spoke to acknowledged, and some even explicitly stated, that a new and more sophisticated arms race may now be coming on."

Terming the current state cooperation among nations a "façade", Adani stated that a combination of the pandemic, followed by the war in Ukraine and the effort to limit climate change, has exposed the limits of global cooperation. "The time has come for global collaboration rather than cooperation. 'You must cooperate with me' cannot imply coercion. Cooperation cannot only mean cooperating with the existing world order."

Driving home the lessons he learnt at Davos, Adani stated that, as a response to global conditions, India needed to be more self-reliant across all sectors, be it vaccinations, defence or semiconductors.

However, he also cautioned about "pushbacks" in India's efforts to be self-reliant such as controversies and attempts at stopping from building semiconductor plants.

"Many will dissuade us from investing a larger portion of our GDP in defence. Our principles will come under criticism. What we must keep in mind is that many of those who set targets for emissions reductions for India are also those that shy away from acknowledging the disproportionate responsibility borne by a small number of developed countries for the climate crisis. In other words, it is far easier to talk than to walk the talk."

Talking about India's "very large" presence at the WEF, Adani stated that the same showed the country was no longer shy of asserting itself in the global arena.

"India is right to focus on self-reliance, while also seeking to provide an alternative to a world in need of alternatives... Let's seek a more stable world order built around countries that are self-confident, self-reliant and willing to speak to each other in terms of mutual respect rather than coercion and condescension. This is the paradox we must solve."