To Go Green is Enriching is Glorious

Deng Xiaoping may have caught on to something that the Medicis got wind of centuries before when the communist leader coined the phrase, 'To get rich is glorious.' But it may now be time for a follow-up: to go green is enriching. With Gautam Adani riding on the pigtails of renewable energy - Adani Green Energy is his most valuable company - he is now, going by Bloomberg's February 8 update of the world's top billionaires list, the 10th richest person in the universe and the richest in Asia. With a net worth of $88.5 billion, he's gone ahead of other energetic man Mukesh Ambani, the second time Adani's pipped him reliably after November 2021. (Poor Jack Ma is No. 34 now.) Considering the richest person, Elon Musk, also fuels his riches by expending both rocket fuel and revving up electric vehicles, the trick now seems to be to play both sides in the energy sweepstakes - seguing away from carbon-emitting coal to follow the sun. No longer the old binary of getting your hands dirty with coal, oil and gas alone if you wanted to make zillions.

But enough about funky fuel. Out of the top 10, eight are Americans, one (Bernard Arnault) French and one Indian. By being one of the 10 richest persons, Adani will help make the old land of snake charmers and mendicants be looked at in a slightly new way by the world.