Opinion India’s G20 Presidency: LiFE lessons for global markets

India’s new Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) initiative is an important platform that could help lower energy costs, carbon dioxide emissions, air pollution and inequalities in energy consumption. LiFE demonstrates India’s leadership on global issues by promoting sustainable lifestyles and consumption choices worldwide. The programme could potentially help put developing and advanced economies alike onto a more sustainable path.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the LiFE initiative in October 2022 to nudge individual and collective action to protect the environment. This includes making informed personal choices such as using public transport more, buying electric rather than petrol or diesel vehicles, adopting energy-efficient appliances in homes, and much more.

New IEA analysis shows that if all countries were to adopt the kind of measures recommended by LiFE, it would reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2 billion tonnes by 2030. This alone would deliver around one-fifth of the emissions reductions needed this decade to put the world on a path to net zero emissions. The measures would also save consumers globally around $440 billion in annual energy bills.

While the goal of using energy more efficiently is at the heart of LiFE, the programme doesn’t negate the need for strong policies to accelerate the expansion of clean energy technologies such as solar, wind and hydrogen. We need to do many things at once to tackle the world’s environmental challenges while ensuring secure and affordable energy supplies for all. That is why LiFE’s recommendations can be a valuable complement to more traditional policies.

For instance, hard-to-decarbonise industries like steel and cement can take a leaf out of LiFE’s book by adopting approaches that use energy and other resources more efficiently. Increasing the volume of steel that is recycled can reduce the amount of steel production that needs to be decarbonised. It helps make the scale of the challenge more manageable.

The strength of India’s initiative is that it combines individual accountability and policy actions. This is critical. We all need to make the right choices when it comes to the environment and sustainability, but often these choices are not supported by appropriate infrastructure, incentives or information.

For example, public transport in many cities must become more efficient and readily accessible to encourage citizens to leave their cars at home. Urban planning needs to be optimised so individuals can live closer to work and to amenities that reduce commute times and encourage walking and cycling. Policies are important here to enable sustainable choices by actively supplying alternative options. India’s Ujala scheme to provide affordable and hyper-efficient LED bulbs is a good example. It has transformed the Indian lighting market by educating consumers on the benefits of the environmentally-friendly option.

It’s important to note that prioritising the environment doesn’t need to come at the expense of India’s broader development agenda. In the IEA’s analysis, energy demand in developing economies will continue to increase as people strive to improve their living standards. This requires a range of measures to ensure countries prosper in tandem with advancing their decarbonisation efforts. LiFE’s recommendations can help support this.

However, LiFE certainly shouldn’t be seen as only relevant to India and developing economies. Its lessons are applicable globally — and could make the biggest difference in advanced economies. Evidence suggests the global energy crisis is sparking renewed interest in behaviour change and energy efficiency, particularly in advanced economies that have been heavily affected. For instance, the European Union set a goal of reducing its natural gas demand by 15 per cent in response to the crisis. It ended up overachieving, with gas demand in buildings falling around 17 per cent in 2022 even as the economy grew.

Technology can also help stimulate businesses and citizens into action. Last year, when California’s grid faced an extreme heatwave, consumers received a text message alert from the grid operator prompting them to voluntarily reduce demand. The result was a rapid drop in electricity demand — equivalent to the output of three coal power plants — that averted the threat of blackouts. While the circumstances were extreme, it shows consumers are willing to take responsibility for the energy they use for the greater good.

India’s G20 Presidency represents a unique opportunity to globalise the LiFE initiative — providing a knowledge-sharing platform for other leading economies to realise the impact that LiFE’s recommendations can have in the fight against climate change, air pollution and unaffordable energy bills. Since the G20 makes up nearly 80 per cent of global energy demand, meaningful changes by its members can make a big difference. This is why the IEA welcomes such initiatives and hopes that all countries will learn some LiFE lessons from India.

The writer is Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.