New Delhi, Jan 13,2023: G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Friday said it is a great opportunity to look at sunrise sectors like green hydrogen development and mobile phone manufacturing with India holding the presidency of the G20 grouping.

“The stars are aligned in favour of India,” he said while referring to India’s G20 presidency while delivering the third annual lecture of Public Affairs Forum of India.

With the G20 summit scheduled to take place in September in Delhi, Kant said India holds an advantage in terms of demographics, digitalisation, decarbonisation and deglobalisation to be a major power and become a voice of the Global South.

Referring to the various crises being faced by the world at a time when India has assumed presidency of G20, Kant said: “To my mind, every crisis has a huge opportunity and G20 in the past has demonstrated the ability to deliver in times of adversity.”

“India’s focus would be on highlighting the need to address the climate crisis, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, global debt, geopolitical tensions and the ensuing food and energy crisis,” he pointed out.

Kant further said that there will be a renewed push for green development and climate finance, with the concept of Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) woven in.

Referring to the climate crisis, Kant said: “The promise of climate finance is not being lived up to by the developed world. It is important to have the flow of resources from multilateral institutions, besides the $100 billion funding from the developed countries. Nudging them is a key part of the government’s agenda.”