This paper argues that prioritising low-carbon technologies today will yield benefits tomorrow in the form of an industrial economy much more ready to compete in a carbon-constrained future. It will add rather than depreciate value for the country. It argues that despite an Indian, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairing the lead global body – the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); in India, climate change is virtually a leadership-free zone. The impacts of climate change will be felt not just in years, but over generations. Tackling it will require far-sighted leadership.