Manoj Sinha

Manoj Sinha is CEO and co-founder of Husk Power Systems, which operates 200 minigrids across Asia and Africa, and reached profitability in India and Nigeria this year.

What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?

While it’s tempting to point at one action, or a time period of 12 months, the reality is that it’s going to require long-term systemic change and many levers to solve the climate crisis. Action requires every stakeholder to take a major step in the right direction, as that will have a multiplier effect. For governments that’s a tax on carbon. For corporations, that’s requiring themselves to offset at least Scope 1 and 2 emissions [from their operations and energy use respectively]. For investors, that’s financing the true innovators who can dramatically increase the renewable energy mix for every possible sector including hard to abate sectors like steel, as well as electricity and transportation.

What is a climate technology that isn’t getting the attention or funding it deserves?

Solarizing the agricultural value chain gets far too little attention, especially in the Global South, where smallholder farmers dominate economies yet are the most vulnerable to climate change. And one important way to address the issue is not difficult and exists today: using distributed solar and batteries in food production, processing, and transportation.

What’s the most important climate legislation that could pass in the next year?

Imposing a uniform carbon tax. But this must take into account cumulative emissions for industry at the national level, and also make accommodations for the poor at the societal level. That means the Global North will have to bear a larger burden.

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