Women’s Leadership in India’s Equitable Energy Transition

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This blog was authored by Rana Pujari, NRDC India's lead of renewable energy.

To meet India's ambitious renewable energy and other climate goals, women participation and leadership is essential. The renewable energy market offers a multitude of opportunities for women to be instrumental in India's clean energy transition as active participants, managers and leaders. With more than 3.4 million direct jobs (short and long term) yet to be created with India's investment in 500 GW non-fossil electricity generation capacity by 2030, there are substantial opportunities to create an equitable and gender balanced clean energy workforce in India. However, while women's vital role in the energy transition is recognized, their participation is frequently hindered by gender-specific barriers. NRDC is working with partners on the ground to support greater inclusion of women in the renewable energy sector, which will enhance women's empowerment, increase economic productivity and well-being for communities at large.

New research for assessing participation of women

Women comprise nearly 48 percent of the total population of India and yet little information about their participation in renewable energy market is known. The lack of gender-disaggregated data across the renewable energy value chain has so far been a significant challenge, hindering efforts to understand and address existing gender imbalances effectively. Credible gender specific data will help address common barriers such as limited access to finance, insufficient knowledge and skills, lack of gender-sensitive policies, inequity in ownership of assets and socio-cultural restrictions.

To tackle this challenge, NRDC, in collaboration with Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), is supporting the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in a major research initiative. The joint 'Clean Jobs' study will estimate employment generation and assess gender representation in the Indian renewable energy sector. Initial findings from this research, surveying 165 companies across various segments and states indicates that women constitute less than 15 percent of the renewable energy workforce. Even this limited participation is mostly in non-technical roles like human resources and finance with very little representation in senior management and leadership positions. Preliminary findings suggest a strong need for proactively designing gender-specific policies and roles to enhance women representation in India's clean energy sector, strengthen finance access as well as launch robust skill development initiatives tailored for women. The full study is expected to be released in February 2025.

The need for investing in training and skilling

NRDC has been leading efforts to support women-led clean energy transition in Indian villages in partnership with Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of States (AREAS), MNRE. TheHariyali Gram (Green Villages) initiative aims to enhance accessibility and affordability of climate-friendly solutions and improve livelihood opportunities at the household level in rural India. Our work supports training and skill development of rural women on climate-friendly solutions, leading to women's economic empowerment and leadership.

Celebrating women leaders in renewable energy

Despite proven effectiveness, women climate leaders do not get enough recognition. To spotlight the role of and contribution of women, NRDCpartnered with MNRE, in an engaging discussion onWomen as Leaders in accelerating Energy Transition -Challenges & Opportunities at the Global RE-INVEST conference hosted in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Her Excellency Svenja Schulze, Germany's federal minister for economic cooperation and development, in her keynote remarks, highlighted the strategic importance of such forums to emphasize gender equality for a global, just and sustainable energy transition, which is key to achieving the sustainable development goals.

The objective of the session was to highlight barriers to gender-balanced equitable energy transition, opportunities to unlock greater participation of women and collaboration as an enabler to drive India's climate agenda. The consensus across the panel was the need to keep gender at the heart of organizational, governance and policy decision making and the importance of making women as 'agents of change' in India's ambitious climate journey. Awareness and capacity building, creating relevant employment opportunities and ramping up financing to support women-led entrepreneurship are some of the levers that could accelerate India's gender balanced and equitable energy transition. Key highlights and takeaways from the session can be found here.

Event at RE Invest 2024 highlighting the need to elevate the role of women in India's energy transition, from left: Svenja Schulze, Germany's federal minister for economic cooperation and development; Dipa Singh Bagai, country head, NRDC India; Susan Jane Ferguson, country representative, India, UN Women; Dr. Harish Hande, cofounder and CEO, SELCO Foundation; Preeti Bajaj, CEO & MD, Luminous Power Technologies

India is a leader in climate action, on track to achieve its climate goals. The Delhi Declaration, during India's G20 Presidency, set a high goal of tripling the world's installed renewable energy capacity. As India leads the world in transitioning towards renewable energy, investing in women's leadership and training will be key to providing innovative solutions to energy challenges. Recognizing women's current contributions and harnessing their untapped potential is essential for driving effective and equitable climate action, as the world leaders gather for the global climate discussions at COP 29 in Azerbaijan next month.

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