Gujarat’s green hydrogen projects to gain from NDB’s Climate Mitigation Fund

Since green infrastructure, green energy and climate mitigation projects are the NDB’s targets of investments in India, green hydrogen projects are expected to be co-financed by the bank, according to Leslie Maasdorp, vice president and chief financial officer, NDB. He is in Gujarat to attend the G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD) Meetings, being held at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar from July 14-18.

“Green hydrogen is a proven technology and can be scaled up. Therefore, the NDB is closely looking at co-financing these projects in India. Our aim at the NDB is to demonstrate and scale commercially viable projects in the areas of sustainability,” Maasdorp said, adding that NDB plans to continue investing in India at the rate of $1-$1.5 billion every year in India.

TOI recently reported that the Gujarat cabinet approved the draft land allocation policy for green hydrogen projects. Land parcels of 1.99 lakh hectare have been earmarked for five key players – private sector entities – eyeing their foray into the green hydrogen manufacturing. These include Reliance New Energy, Adani New Industries, Torrent Power, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India and Welspun Group.

NDB is a multilateral development bank established by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development. India is the largest borrower from the NDB, accounting for about 25% of the $35 billion of lending made by the multilateral development bank.

“As of today, NDB has approved total 22 projects in India with an aggregate amount of about $7.5 billion. In line with its goals, NDB will continue to allocate 40% of its lending towards climate-change mitigation projects. Batteries for renewable energy storage as well as solar projects in India are some of the major focus areas for investing into India, among others,” Maasdorp further added. The projects financed by NDB in India address multiple challenges across a wide range such as transport, clean energy, water, and sanitation, among others. These include 12 projects in the transport sector, five projects in the water sector, two projects with multiple areas of operation and one project in the sector of clean energy. Two loans in the amount of $2 billion have been provided by NDB to the Government of India as an emergency response measure to withstand and mitigate the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic.