India's Renewable Energy Projects Face Major Climate Risks, Report Says

A joint report by Zurich Kotak General Insurance and Zurich Resilience Solutions assessed 871 planned renewable‑energy sites across ten Indian states, representing about 267 GW of capacity. It found that roughly 90 % of India’s renewable‑energy portfolio could be exposed to high or critical climate risk by 2030, primarily from tornadoes, floods, wildfires and hailstorms.

The study estimates potential climate‑related losses of USD 55 billion, which could be cut to about USD 27 billion with an investment of roughly USD 4.6 billion (around 2 % of the portfolio’s replacement cost). This would deliver an estimated six‑fold return on each dollar spent on resilience measures. The report urges early integration of climate‑risk screening, stress‑testing of high‑risk assets, hazard‑specific standards in procurement, broader resilience planning for supporting infrastructure, and the use of risk assessments to attract financing. As one author put it, “Acting now – through smarter design, better site selection and targeted resilience measures – could protect them from the worst of the changes to come.”