Climate Undone

Description

In this episode of India in Transition, Heeta Lakhani and Pranshu Patel sit down with Ashish Khanna, Director General of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), to explore why solar is increasingly becoming a question of energy security, economic strategy and development — not just climate action.

As geopolitical instability and fuel price shocks expose the risks of relying on imported fossil fuels, Ashish explains why countries across the Global South are looking more closely at energy that can be generated domestically, and why solar could become an even bigger part of India’s transition.

But scaling solar is about much more than installing more panels. We talk about the need for energy storage and flexible electricity grids, rooftop solar, solar-powered agriculture and decentralised renewable energy. We also look at some of the harder questions around critical minerals, recycling, battery and panel waste, and what a circular solar economy could look like.

The conversation then moves to the people behind the transition: what happens to workers and communities dependent on existing fossil-fuel industries? Where could the next generation of green jobs come from? And how could AI, digital infrastructure and energy trading create entirely new opportunities for young people?

Finally, we zoom out to India’s wider growth story and the role it could play in demonstrating a different pathway to energy security and development across the Global South.

In this episode:

• The oil crisis and the case for energy security
• India’s solar transition and what comes next
• Storage, grids and decentralised energy
• Solar panels, batteries, critical minerals and recycling
• Just transition, workers and communities
• AI, digital energy systems and green jobs
• Rooftop and balcony solar
• India and the Global South

India in Transition is hosted by Heeta Lakhani and Pranshu Patel and created by The ClimAct Initiative and Climate Undone, exploring the people, choices and ideas shaping India’s transition.