Ambani plans to move towards renewable energy; to invest for next-gen

Mumbai: Reliance plans to move away from fossil fuels to a more renewable source of energy in a few decades, Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Industries which operates the world’s biggest refining complex, said on Monday. Reliance operates two giant refineries with a combined capacity of 1.4 million barrels per day in Gujarat.

Ambani noted that he plans to make his company net-zero carbon-free by 2035. India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, ships in about 80 per cent of its oil needs.

At the event, Ambani said he will be working towards three things—the transformation of India into a digital society, transforming the education and skill base of the country and move away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.

Along with the first two goals, the head of one of the largest petrochemical companies in the world also spoke about moving towards clean energy as his third goal. “The third thing that we’re working towards is really the transformation of energy. And we think again that the world is right and India is in the right mindset to completely in the next few decades, move away from fossil fuels to completely renewable energy”.

“Our view was that at the end of the day, we’ve got to embrace the technologies of the future. And this was my father’s view; he always said that I don’t want to be only a textile company. If you want to move from textiles, you should move to businesses of the future and you should invest in next-generation talent. And that is what we’ve done,” said Ambani.

In his attempt to move towards new technologies, he said, beyond a textile led business house, Reliance Jio Info-Comm (Jio) took birth. “And even when we thought through telecom together, the roadmap was very clear. The roadmap was that, yes, it will be at the price of a postcard, and technology evolves…today it is free,” he added.