Climate Change Poses A Threat To India's Well-Being While Technology Serves As The Greatest Opportunity To Achieve A Sustainable Future: Study

As the world's investors continue to negotiate with and navigate an increasingly complex international investment landscape and deploy capital to create a sustainable future, Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) is launching its Megatrends Study with Bloomberg Media, showing how climate change is a growing threat to India and the world and digital technologies serve as the greatest opportunity for a better future.

Based on a survey of over 1,800 global investors, engaged and informed Millennials, and Gen Z consumers from India, the UAE, the UK, the US, China and France, the study finds climate change outstrips other megatrends as being the greatest risk to the wellbeing of the world, impacting health, the environment, and business. 

France (52 per cent), the UK (50 per cent), the UAE (41 per cent), and India (39 per cent) agree most strongly that climate change is the biggest threat, while the US (29 per cent) and China (27 per cent) see climate change almost on par with the impact of demographic shifts and inequalities.

In response to climate change, the need for a transition to a low-carbon economy is highlighted, with India and UAE feeling most strongly, at 92 per cent and 93 per cent respectively.

To support the creation of a sustainable future for all, the study finds that digital technologies are the megatrend most likely to advance the well-being of the world, led by India (34per cent), the US (34per cent), China (32 per cent), and the UAE (31 per cent).

The study also notes the big exception for business to help lead the way to the future. India (95 per cent) and the UAE (91 per cent) feel most strongly, followed by the US (85 per cent), France (84 per cent), the UK (84 per cent), and China (81 per cent).

Ahmed Saeed Al Calily, Chief Strategy and Risk Officer, Mubadala, said, “As a responsible investor, Mubadala continues to execute our investment strategy in line with our convictions about how trends are shaping the world. We are investing in the energy transition, traditional and digital infrastructure, life sciences, and technology to achieve value creation while delivering a positive impact to communities and contributing to a sustainable future.”

The Megatrends Study follows the publication of the report by the UN Economist Network for the UN 75th Anniversary, which focused on five megatrends; climate change; demographic shifts, particularly population ageing; urbanization; the emergence of digital technologies and inequalities. According to the

UN Economist Network, the megatrends ‘are the result of human activity, and as such, they can be shaped by human decisions and policy choices.

In recent years, Mubadala has executed a number of deals in line with its convictions about trends. In 2020, the company made an investment of USD 1.2 billion in Jio Platforms, a next-generation technology platform focused on providing high-quality and affordable digital services across India. In the same year, Mubadala invested Rs 6,247.5 crores in Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, India’s fastest-growing and most profitable retail business with around 12,000 stores nationwide.

In April 2022, Mubadala made the Rs 4,000 crore acquisition of a stake with BlackRock Real Estate in Tata Power Renewable Energy  (TPREL) in April 2022 to support India’s renewable energy independence and transition. Tata Renewables aims to contribute 6 per cent, or 30GW by 2030 with the energy portfolio aiming to displace almost 90 million tons of CO2 each year, as it replaces coal in India’s energy mix.

Mubadala’s interest in renewable energy spans more than 15 years and began when it founded Masdar, which is active in more than 35 countries across six continents, ranging from the world’s largest single-site solar power plant in the UAE with a capacity of 2GW to Indonesia’s first floating solar power plant, which will provide enough electricity to power 50,000 homes. 

Mubadala’s recent partnership with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA) on Masdar at the end of 2022 is designed to create a global clean energy powerhouse by propelling Masdar’s renewable power capacity to 100GW.