Sumant Sinha, the founder, chairman and CEO of ReNew, the first Indian renewable energy company to be listed on NASDAQ, is at the forefront of the fight against climate change. Sinha has authored Fossil Free: Reimagining Clean Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World which explores the urgency, challenges, and opportunities of transitioning away from fossil fuels to cleaner sources of energy.
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In an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18, on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival, Sinha talks about his latest release, the growing consciousness about climate change, and the need for more awareness.
Can you tell me a bit about your journey, how you started getting conscious about renewable energy and climate change, learning more about it and subsequently founding ReNew?
About 15 years ago, I started looking at the area of climate change. It seemed like a very important issue. Back then, even though the temperature change had not occurred, and they were still the early days as far as awareness was there about climate change, I got the feeling that it was going to become one of the most important issues that we were dealing with as humanity. And that’s why I chose to get into the sector. Over the years, the interest level in climate change has increased dramatically. And now it’s something that everybody’s talking about, and we all need to get together and deal with it.
Do you think the younger generation is more conscious about climate change now?
I think they are more conscious, but they need to be a lot more conscious.
How do you think the younger generation and the masses in general can be made more conscious?
See, the thing is, unfortunately, younger people have to get exposed to the whole climate change issue. I know that schools and colleges are teaching much more about it. We all are still facing the consequences of it in terms of pollution, weather changes, and so on. And I think that is something that the youth of today can observe around them and learn from.