When India’s Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Pralhad Joshi, recently urged faster clearances for renewable projects, he was not merely addressing a backlog of files. He was calling attention to one of the defining bottlenecks of our era. The world is no longer debating whether renewable energy is viable. The cost of solar and wind has collapsed. Storage and green hydrogen are moving from pilot to commercial scale. Trillions in private capital are actively seeking sustainable projects. The constraint today is governance. It is the pace and predictability of approvals that determine whether clean energy becomes the engine of prosperity or remains a stalled promise.
India’s story illustrates both the achievement and the fragility of this transition. With over 251 gigawatts of non-fossil capacity already installed, the country has met its interim target of deriving half its electricity from non-fossil sources well ahead of schedule. These figures suggest momentum and ambition. Yet numbers can flatter. Developers speak of projects that languish in permitting stages for years. Transmission corridors are not built in tandem with generation capacity. Payment disputes undermine investor confidence. On paper, India is racing. In practice, it risks tripping over its own red tape.
The consequences are not confined to climate goals. They go to the heart of economic growth and competitiveness. When renewable projects stall, the immediate effect is a rise in the marginal cost of electricity. Fossil fuel imports must fill the gap, raising the trade deficit and exposing the economy to volatile global prices. Industries from steel to data centres, under pressure to decarbonise, face uncertainty in power sourcing. Investors, both domestic and foreign, interpret delays as risk and demand higher returns. The cost of capital rises, slowing deployment further. What looks like an administrative delay is in fact an economic penalty, paid in higher bills for consumers, lost competitiveness for industry, and reduced fiscal space for government.
This is where energy transitions intersect with geopolitics. Nations that can offer clean power at scale and speed attract investment, reduce dependence on fossil suppliers, and build credibility in climate negotiations. Nations that stumble on governance lose on all three counts. India has sought to position itself as a climate leader, through platforms like the International Solar Alliance and through visible commitments at COP summits and the G20. But climate diplomacy is not judged by speeches. It is judged by delivery. A widening gap between announcements and implementation risks diminishing India’s influence in shaping the rules of the emerging low-carbon order.
The obstacles to faster clearance are well known. Land approvals are fragmented across agencies with overlapping jurisdictions. Transmission expansion lags behind generation, stranding gigawatts of potential. Power purchase agreements are undermined by payment delays and occasional renegotiations, scaring off long-term investors. Local communities, rarely engaged in good faith, oppose projects they see as imposed rather than inclusive. These are not structural impossibilities. They are policy failures that can be corrected with focus and urgency.
Other economies offer lessons. In parts of Europe, renewable permitting is bound by strict timelines where regulators are required to decide within a set period, or the application moves automatically to the next stage. China has built integrated renewable zones where land, grid access, and environmental clearances are pre-mapped, allowing projects to proceed quickly.
In the United States, despite its own permitting backlogs, federal tax credits are tied to clear regulatory milestones, creating pressure on agencies to deliver. Transparency has been key. Online dashboards that track every stage of approval are now used to build accountability and investor confidence. Sovereign guarantees for power purchase obligations, adopted in several emerging markets, reduce investor anxiety about contract risk. Above all, projects that embed local benefits in terms of jobs, infrastructure, and revenue sharing reduce opposition and build legitimacy.
For India, the adoption of such reforms is not a matter of administrative tidiness. It is a matter of economic strategy. Every gigawatt delayed forces the country to import more coal, oil, and gas, widening the current account deficit. Every stalled project drives up the cost of capital as investors demand a risk premium. Every delayed clearance undermines manufacturing competitiveness in sectors that now compete globally not just on cost but also on carbon intensity. In a world where supply chains are being rewritten by carbon border adjustments and green industrial policy, sluggish renewable approvals are no longer a local governance issue. They are a direct threat to economic resilience.
The conversation about renewable clearances also marks a deeper shift in global power. The energy transition is not just about decarbonisation. It is about who sets the standards, who controls the supply chains of the future, and who gains the soft power of credibility. Countries that accelerate deployment will dominate emerging markets in green hydrogen, batteries, and carbon markets. They will shape the frameworks of trade, investment, and finance in the low-carbon economy. Those who lag will be forced to accept rules written elsewhere.
This is why Minister Joshi’s intervention matters. It signals recognition that bureaucracy is no longer a secondary issue. In the climate era, bureaucracy is destiny. The ability to move projects from proposal to operation quickly and predictably will define not just energy outcomes but economic and diplomatic outcomes as well.
India has the technological capacity, the financial flows, and the international partnerships to lead. What it requires is the political will to treat time as the most valuable resource of all. Streamlined approvals, digitised processes, coordinated land and grid planning, and stronger investor protections are not optional. They are the preconditions for sustaining growth, protecting the balance of payments, and maintaining credibility in international negotiations.
The clock is ticking. Each month of delay compounds into years of lost climate action. Each hesitation translates into higher energy costs, missed investment opportunities, and diminished influence. The nations that understand this truth will define the rules of the twenty-first-century economy. The nations that do not will watch from the sidelines.
