By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Nidhi Verma
PARIS/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - French energy major TotalEnergies will buy a 25% stake in Adani New Industries Ltd (ANIL), as part of a deal with Adani Enterprises Ltd to develop the world's biggest green hydrogen ecosystem, the companies said on Tuesday.
India, the world's third-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, plans to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030 to help become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2070.
ANIL aims to invest $50 billion over a decade in green hydrogen and associated ecosystem. In the initial phase, it plans to develop green hydrogen production capacity of one million tonnes per year by 2030.
India has announced incentive schemes and companies including Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corp and Adani Group have pledged to invest billions of dollars to develop clean energy projects in India.
Green hydrogen, produced using renewable energy, has some of the best environmental credentials of the various shades of the clean-burning fuel.
Adani Group already has a tie up with TotalEnergies for building liquefied natural gas terminals, gas utilities and renewable energy business in India.
TotalEnergies, one of the world's biggest oil and gas producers, has faced criticism from climate activists and has been moving into the renewable energy sector and diversifying away from hydrocarbon-centred activities in recent years.
"Our confidence in our ability to produce the world's least expensive electron is what will drive our ability to produce the world's least expensive green hydrogen. This partnership will open up a number of exciting downstream pathways," billionaire Gautam Adani said.
Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive of TotalEnergies, said the entry into ANIL "is a major milestone in implementing our low-carbon hydrogen strategy."
Apart from decarbonising hydrogen used in its European refineries by 2030, Pouyanne said the French energy major also plans to pioneer the mass production of green hydrogen as it expects that market to take off by the end of this decade.