India's Clean Energy Transition at a Turning Point India's clean energy transition is not merely an environmental imperative - it is a strategic opportunity to strengthen energy security, technological leadership, industrial competitiveness, and sustainable economic growth while advancing the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. The global energy landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by climate change, energy security concerns, and rapid technological innovation. Clean energy has evolved from an environmental imperative to a strategic driver of economic growth, industrial competitiveness, and national resilience. Across the world, countries are accelerating investments in renewable energy, green hydrogen, energy storage, digital power systems, and low-carbon technologies to build sustainable and secure energy futures. For India, this transition provides a unique opportunity to achieve Viksit Bharat 2047 while fulfilling its commitment to Net Zero by 2070. Balancing rising energy demand with rapid decarbonization, India has embraced an innovation-led approach by strengthening indigenous research, expanding domestic manufacturing, and fostering global partnerships. The country's early achievement of its Paris Agreement targets, along with the rapid growth of non-fossil energy capacity, reflects its commitment to building a clean, resilient, and self-reliant energy ecosystem. This article explores India's clean energy transition through the lens of science, technology, and innovation, highlighting the pivotal role of the Department of Science and Technology's Climate, Energy andSustainable Technology (CEST) Division in advancing research, demonstration, and commercialization of clean energy technologies, while strengthening India's leadership through global initiatives such as Mission Innovation. The Global Clean Energy Landscape The pace of the global energy transition has accelerated markedly driven by climate commitments. According to the International Energy Agency, global energy investment is on track to reach roughly USD 3.4 trillion, of which clean energy technologies account for an estimated USD 2.2 trillion nearly double the sum still flowing into oil, gas and coal. At COP28, nearly 200 countries agreed to triple global renewable capacity and double the rate of energy-efficiency improvement by 2030. Three trends define this moment: steep cost declines have made solar, wind and battery storage the cheapest source of new generation in most markets; energy security has become as significant driver of investment as decarbonisation, with governments treating domestic renewable capacity as a geopolitical hedge; and the frontier of the transition is advancing beyond electricity into harder-to-abate sectors steel, cement, aviation and shipping where hydrogen and carbon capture are becoming indispensable. For India, this confirms that its own investment in indigenous capability across solar manufacturing, hydrogen and storage is well aligned with the direction of global capital. India's Multi-Dimensional Energy Transition India's energy transition is best understood not as a single scheme but as a transformation unfolding simultaneously across generation, storage, mobility, industry and grid infrastructure. India is now the world's third-largest market for installed renewable capacity, behind only China and the United States, having added a record 55.29 GW of non-fossil capacity in FY 2025-26 nearly double the previous year's addition, taking cumulative non-fossil capacity to 283.46 GW. Solar power has crossed 150 GW, spanning utility-scale parks, rooftop systems and agricultural applications under PM-KUSUM, while wind capacity has crossed 56 GW, bringing the Prime Minister's COP26 target of 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 well within reach. Rooftop solar merits particular mention as a democratising force in this transition. The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, launched in 2024 with an outlay of approximately ₹75,021 crore, aims to install rooftop systems on one crore households, extending up to 300 free units a month while enabling families to sell surplus power back to the grid; cumulative rooftop capacity had crossed 30 GW by mid-2026. Domestic manufacturing has scaled in parallel, with India's solar module capacity rising from 2.3 GW in 2014 to over 170 GW today. Green hydrogen represents the next frontier. The National Green Hydrogen Mission, approved in 2023 with an outlay of 219,744 crore, targets at least 5 million tonnes of annual production capacity by 2030, expected to catalyse over 28 lakh crore in investment and six lakh jobs, with three designated Green Hydrogen Hubs Deendayal, V.O. Chidambaranar and Paradip already hosting pilots across steel, mobility, shipping and fertiliser applications. Energy storage and mobility complete the picture: India is expanding battery manufacturing under Production-Linked Incentive schemes, exploring sodium-ion and solid-state chemistries to reduce import dependence, and advancing electric mobility through the EvolutionS of DST. Together, these strands illustrate that India's transition is a system-wide reconfiguration of how the nation generates, moves and consumes energy. Integrated Policy Landscape India's climate framework relates to the "Panchamrit" commitments which was announced by the Hon'ble Prime Minister at COP26. India's response is anchored in its broader development and climate vision through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). The NDC commitments and the long-term vision of Viksit Bharat emphasize sustainable, inclusive growth. Complementing this is India's climate-resilience agenda, coordinated through the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and DST-led missions that build the scientific knowledge base underpinning climate-resilient planning across sectors and states. Most of the commitments have been achieved years ahead of schedule and now extended through the NDC for 2031-2035, which raises the emissions-intensity target to 47% and the non-fossil capacity target to 60% by 2035, alongside a carbon-sink target of 3.5-4.0 billion tonnes of C*O_{2} equivalent through forest cover, all explicitly anchored to Viksit Bharat @2047 and Net Zero 2070. Beneath this framework sits a dense architecture of missions, each addressing a distinct link in the value chain the National Green Hydrogen Mission, PM Surya Ghar, PM-KUSUM, PM E-Drive, the Smart Grid Mission and Green Energy Corridors, and the National Bioenergy Programme. These do not function as disconnected schemes but reinforce one another: a rooftop solar subsidy is matched by a manufacturing incentive ensuring the panel is made in India; a hydrogen production target is matched by a renewable capacity mandate ensuring the electrolyser runs on clean power. Science, Technology and Innovation: The Backbone of the Transition The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, serves as the nodal agency for promoting science, technology, and innovation across critical sectors of national importance. Within DST, the Climate, Energy and Sustainable Technology (CEST) Division has emerged as a key thematic division dedicated to addressing challenges associated with energy security, climate change, and sustainable development. The division plays a central role inadvancing India's transition towards a low-carbon and resource-efficient economy, in alignment with national and global climate commitments. The growing urgency of climate change, coupled with increasing energy demand and environmental constraints, has necessitated a shift from conventional energy systems to clean, sustainable, and resilient technological solutions. In this context, the CEST Division functions as a mission-driven platform, integrating scientific research, technological innovation, and policy support to enable transformative change in the energy and climate landscape of India. CEST: The Strategic Context & Initiatives The Climate, Energy and Sustainable Technology (CEST) Division reflects India's commitment to sustainable development and climate action in line with the Paris Agreement and the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The Division has evolved from supporting fundamental energy research to promoting translational R&D, technology demonstration, and deployment across clean energy and climate technologies. CEST focuses on renewable energy, climate science, carbon capture, hydrogen and fuel cells, industrial decarbonization, electric mobility, clean coal technologies, alternative fuels, building energy efficiency, and water technologies. Recognizing that India's clean energy transition requires a systems-level approach, the Division supports interdisciplinary research, innovation, and industry-academia collaboration. DST serves as the nodal agency for two national climate missions under NAPCC the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) and the National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC). These missions strengthen India's scientific capacity through climate modelling, vulnerability assessment, adaptation and mitigation research, Himalayan ecosystem conservation, capacity building, and international collaboration, while facilitating the translation of research into technologies, policies, and community based solutions. The Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) programme supports research, pilot demonstrations, and deployment of technologies for CO2 capture, utilization, and storage, with emphasis on hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, cement, power, and chemicals. Complementing this, the Methane Monitoring and Mitigation Technologies (M³T) programme develops technologies for monitoring and reducing methane emissions across the energy, mining, waste, and wastewater sectors. DST has strengthened the renewable energy innovation ecosystem through R&D in solar photovoltaics, wind energy, small hydropower, hybrid renewable systems, and energy storage. It supports nextgeneration photovoltaic technologies, advanced wind systems, grid integration, and decentralized renewable energy solutions. Hydrogen is a major focus area, with Hydrogen Storage Centres and four Hydrogen Valley Innovation Clusters established at Jodhpur, Bhubaneswar, Pune-Mumbai, and Kochi-Alappuzha to demonstrate integrated hydrogen production, storage, and end-use applications. The Materials for Energy Storage (MES) programme supports advanced battery technologies, including lithium-sulphur, sodium-ion, solid-state, metal-air, and flow batteries, along with materials for hydrogen and fuel cells. Tangible outcomes include a rapidly charging e-cycle built on sodium-ion batteries and supercapacitors, a vanadium-based flow battery for grid-scale storage, and a family of nano-carbonflorate-coated heating devices developed for smoke-free thermal applications relevant to clean cooking and rural energy access. The Clean Coal Technologies Programme promotes efficient coal utilization through advanced ultra-supercritical (AUSC) technologies, coal gasification, and methanol production. The Clean Fuels and Alternative Energy programme supports biofuels, biomass conversion, waste-to-energy, synthetic fuels, and other low-carbon fuel technologies. To accelerate electric mobility, the EvolutionS programme supports R&D in battery cells, power electronics, traction motors, and charging infrastructure. In collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), DST contributed to the development of 25 national standards for EV charging infrastructure, strengthening interoperability and safety. DST also advances smart grids and building energy efficiency through international collaborations, supporting microgrids, energy storage, smart distribution systems, innovative building materials, and smart controls that improve energy efficiency in buildings. The Water Technology Initiative (WTI) supports the complete research, development, demonstration, and deployment value chain for sustainable water technologies, promoting user-centric solutions that address regional needs through laboratory research, field demonstrations, and technology adaptation. The Clean Coal Technologies Programme improves coal efficiency and environmental performance while promoting cleaner fuels via coal gasification and methanol technologies. The Advanced Ultra Super Critical (AUSC) Programme has established India's first High Temperature Spin Test Rig (HTSTR) and advanced high-temperature material testing facilities, including the FSCTR at NTPC Dadri, for validating indigenous 800 MW AUSC technologies. The Clean Fuels and Alternative Energy Programme supports the development of sustainable fuels including biofuels, waste-to-energy technologies, biomass conversion, synthetic fuels, and emerging low-carbon energy systems. On the mobility side, electric vehicles are moving from niche to mainstream, supported by the newly created EvolutionS program which channels dedicated initiatives into battery cells, power electronics, traction motors, and charging infrastructure. It is envisaged to strengthen the country's electric mobility innovation ecosystem through a series of strategic R&D and standardization initiatives. DST, in collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), contributed to the development of 25 national standards for EV charging infrastructure, which have been notified through the Gazette of India, establishing a robust foundation for interoperability, safety, and large-scale deployment of EV charging systems. This is a translational R&D philosophy identify a gap, fund early-stage research through public-private partnership, build a pilot at meaningful scale, and only then hand the technology to industry. Smart grids and building energy efficiency complete this innovation architecture. Since the SEGES programme's launch in 2014 in the aftermath of India's 2012 blackout, DST has anchored a succession of bilateral smart-grid collaborations with the UK, the US (the UI-ASSIST project on smart distribution systems with storage), and the European Union cumulatively deploying microgrids, energy storage, and smart distribution pilots across urban, rural, and island settings from Lakshadweep to Shillong to Ghoramara Island in West Bengal, where a 160 kW solar plant with 720 kWh of battery storage now powers a previously under-electrified community. On the buildings side, four successive international R&D phases with the US, UK, and through the DST-RMI Global Cooling Prize have advanced innovative building materials (phase-change materials, low-carbon bricks, aerogels) and smart building controls, together delivering measured energy-demand reductions of 10-12% in participating buildings. Mission Innovation: India's Global Leadership Mission Innovation is the global platform through which India's domestic research connects to a wider community of innovators and investors. Launched at COP21 in 2015, it today brings together 22 countries and the European Union around the shared goal of making clean energy affordable and accessible; its second phase from 2021-2030 sharpens this into seven mission areas spanning zero-emission shipping, clean hydrogen, green powered future, net-zero industries, integrated biorefineries, urban transition and carbon-dioxide removal. Since 2023, DST has served as India's national nodal point, hosting the MI-8/CEM-14 Ministerial in Goa in 2023 one of the year's largest global clean energy convenings, featuring a USD 10.6 billion investment announcement and showcasing India's major initiatives at subsequent gatherings in Bali (2024), Brazil (2024), Seoul (2025), Busan (2025) and Brussels (2026). India's own DST-Rocky Mountain Institute Global Cooling Prize, advancing residential cooling at a fraction of conventional climate impact, is now regarded internationally as a model for prize-based innovation. The Way Forward India's clean energy transition requires sustained research, accelerated technology translation, stronger public-private partnerships, and deeper scientific collaboration. Continued efforts through DST's CEST scientific programme Division, strengthened industry-academia linkages, expanded global engagement through platforms such as Mission Innovation and the International Solar Alliance, and a strong focus on manufacturing, skilling, and commercialization will be critical to transforming laboratory innovations into large-scale deployment. As India progresses towards Viksit Bharat 2047 and Net Zero 2070, the convergence of indigenous innovation, scientific excellence, and global partnerships will be central to building a resilient, energy-secured, and globally competitive clean energy ecosystem while contributing meaningfully to global climate action. This article is written by Dr. Nisha Mendiratta, Head & Scientist G, Climate, Energy and Sustainable Technology (CEST) Division, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. [Published in DREAM 2047 Major National Scientific Missions & Programmes (June-July 2026 / Vol. 06) : A magazine by Department of Science & Technology, GoI]