Nikhil Kamath, also known as the ‘Wonder Boy of New India,’ hosts a podcast called ‘WTF is?’ where he discusses important topics. Despite dropping out of school, he has become a successful investor and is often referred to as India’s Warren Buffett. In his latest podcast, ‘WTF is Climate Change?’, Nikhil collaborates with prominent climate experts such as Sunita Narain, director-general for Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment, actor Bhumi Pednekar, climate researcher Navroz Dubash, and sustainability collaborator Mirik Gogri to explore the impact of climate change. They discuss the consequences of a significant rise in carbon dioxide levels and the looming threat of a 3-degree temperature increase. Nikhil’s journey is a true inspiration, and his podcast sheds light on crucial issues affecting our planet.
Nikhil Kamath asked in the podcast, What did we do right with the ozone issue? Ozone was like this world-ending issue many years ago.
To this Sunita Narain, director-general for Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment, responded saying: “Agreed, I mean it’s a very simple story but a very clear story, it does not have the lessons for climate change. so this is something we need to start and understand very clearly. what has happened with ozone not only does not work with climate change. But we may have exactly as Navroz says we may have derailed the climate change action because of the action so what happened in the ozone we had a chemical made by a multinational that was destroying the world’s ozone layer. that same multinational came up with an alternative that only made sure that the ozone layer was less destroyed . but there was an alternative technology available from the same multinational and many more such companies that came on Dupont and many others that came up. The global consensus around it was we need to do something because the ozone layer is being damaged we need to repair it or we need to phase out this technology and to phase out this technology we need to phase in the new technology which now is being held also on proprietary grounds by the same company which made the first technology. So what was the deal was the money would be put in to buy the technology which was in proprietary hands and public money would be used and that technology would then be given to countries that had a 10-year lead time to catch up. You had a problem that was created by a company that company was not held to account.”
Continuing the same, Nikhil Kamath asked: Which company?
To this, Sunita responded to the same saying: “Dupont, they were not held to ICICI and Dupont. They were not held to account. They were not told that they damaged the Ozone layer polluter pay should operate they should be asked to pay for it in fact the global agreement was that now that you have found the new technology we will buy that from you and replace your old technology with it. We have gone through four variations of this now by the line we reached today. Today HFC134 coming which now are coming.”
The next question came in from Nikhil saying, What if HF?
Replying to this, Sunita added, “HF each one of them are new chemicals which are b you start with chlor fluorocarbons were the original ones then you had CFCs, then hydro. So each one has been a substitute to the other companies that have made a profit laughing themselves to the bank is also a twist. The public sector has paid for those technologies. Countries like us have been told that if we operative mechanism was that either you join we give you 10 years more to do the reduction not possible at the differences emissions from there and the emissions we need to increase more than that what we have done is to basically Not the mean to me the story was by the rich producers, the rich consumer’s poor poor consumers producers and if you don’t do this we will beat you. Can I have this where is the Rivers can any of the essential chemical carbon foil burning is the core of the Industrial Revolution? Human development has evolved with. It’s everything we do around us, all the time, the nature and the scoop. The change is just so much so much that in fact and I think this is where the shift in mindset is important with climate change.”
Commenting on the same, sustainability collaborator Narvoz. said, “It is a global collective action problem in the sense that you know we have to you can free ride and you can choose not to act and wait for somebody else to act and so forth but I think the way we are thinking about it more and more is can you shift your economies in the base that makes sense for your economy and have the effect of climate that shift is not possible is in Hindu religion. Very interesting.”
While the podcast saw different opinions coming in from the guests, Nikhil asked actor Bhumi Pednekar “Why doesn’t Bollywood make movies around climate change” and on the fact that Hollywood made smoking cool, diamond expensive and defined attractive things beyond cematric way, to which the actress responded,”
Responding to the same, Bhumi Pednekar said, “I think it comes from the fact that a lot of people feel that they are not going to be affected by it because we feel that we are protected by the wealth that we have and there will be some elite institution that is going to come and solve all of this. But that’s not the case. As rightly pointed out by Ma’am (Sunita Narain) that climate change is going to be a great equaliser and there will be only enough narrative around which I really feel is missing, especially in the industry that I am from because people feel it’s not going to affect them. We live in our bubble and it gives us a lot of comfort, like we have access to the best of things. I think the narrative will only shift when we are truly affected by it. I am trying to get as many people like me to start talking about it. It needs to become popular culture. That’s the impact that media or films have. I want climate change and all the effects and need people to be fearful in many ways and I really hope that there are many more films that are made. In fact, there was such a phenomenal film made called ‘Kadwi Hawa’ but it didn’t really do well and didn’t reach a large audience because people have sort of ostrich mentality where they behave that everything is pretty and okay around us and believe that someone will get us out of this situation.”
Nikhil is a remarkable investor who has made it to the Forbes Billionaires List twice, in 2020 and 2023, and also the Self-Made Rich List in 2022. He is committed to philanthropic investments on a large scale, and recently made history by becoming the youngest Indian to pledge a majority of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In doing so, he has not only become the fourth person to do so but has also demonstrated his dedication to making a positive impact on the world.