India, Jan. 22 -- Climate change, driven largely by long-term dependence on fossil fuels, is a lived reality today. In India, its impacts are already visible in the form of record-breaking weather events and heatwaves. According to the 2025 Lancet Countdown report, India recorded an average of 19.8 heatwave days last year, of which 6.6 days would not have occurred without human-induced climate change. Globally, the pattern is similar, with the same report tracking 152 record-breaking extreme weather events across 61 countries worldwide. There is broad international agreement: we need to decarbonise, and transition to cleaner fuels.

When most of us think about the "global energy transition," we imagine a linear shift: from fossil fuels to...