India’s clean tech year in focus: what 2025 tells us about climate action

In this episode of the BL year-end podcast on clean tech, Businessline’s M Ramesh speaks to Disha Agarwal, senior programme lead at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), and Dr Vaibhav Chaturvedi, senior fellow at CEEW, on India’s climate and energy story in 2025. They discuss record renewable energy additions, falling costs, and the growing role of battery storage, alongside persistent challenges related to land, grids, and transmission. The conversation also examines India’s national adaptation plan, the development of domestic compliance carbon markets, and the implications of Europe’s carbon border tax for Indian firms, providing a grounded assessment of India’s climate action and its future direction. Here’s what they had to say.