Indian handbook created for first India-UK Energy for Growth Dialogue

Gavin Templeton, Head of Sustainable Finance at UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB), presented Mr S Selvakumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India with an Indian version of GIB’s Green Investment Handbook in New Delhi this morning.

The handover was the centrepiece of a green finance roundtable, co-hosted by GIB and representatives from India’s YES Bank. Also present were Mr KS Popli, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) and Campbell Keir, Director, Department for International Trade (DIT).

The event is part of the first-ever India-UK Energy for Growth Dialogue. The UK delegation is being led by Rt. Hon. Greg Clark MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who is meeting with ministerial counterparts in India to discuss energy collaboration between the two countries.

The handbook is a guide to how GIB ‘does green’ and sets out the systems and processes used to assess, monitor and report on the green impact of every one of its investments.

It is available in three of the most commonly spoken languages in the world: English, Mandarin and Spanish. The Indian version can be applied to investments in the country’s green infrastructure market.

GIB is also running a capacity building workshop on green investment reporting where the handbook will be made available to Indian investors, developers and consultants.

"India is an important partner to the UK on issues of trade, energy, climate change and finance. Green finance is a relatively new area where we have built a strong relationship based on mutual interests and ambitions for clean, inclusive growth."

"We are already seeing the handbook used by private investors in the UK and it has been translated into Mandarin and Spanish. I hope it will prove to be helpful too in India."

Greg Clark
writing in the foreword to the Indian version of the handbook, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy