India’s highly centralized federal structure sits uneasily with the nature of the climate problem. While financial and bureaucratic capacities are concentrated in the centre, the locus of climate decisions lies largely in the states because they steer energy choices and respond to climate impacts.
The focus of this brief is on national climate governance with only partial discussion of the complementary federal governance structures required, which will be addressed elsewhere.
It is on the precarious and ever-shifting terrain of Indian federalism that a modern edifice of climate governance must be built. Where is the firm ground? Are there enduring characteristics of centre-state relations that let us arrive at a relatively stable description of Indian climate governance?
Riven with scientific uncertainty, contending interests, and competing interpretations, the problem of climate change poses an existential challenge. For India, such a challenge is compounded by the immediate concerns of eradicating poverty and accelerating development.
The effectiveness of climate governance depends on its underlying institutional arrangements. This paper examines the emergence of climate-related institutions in India, organised around three periods: pre- 2007; 2007–2009 and 2010–mid-2014.
While there is growing attention to climate policy, effective coordination, design and implementation of policy require attention to institutional design for climate governance. This paper examines the case of India, organized around three periods: pre-2007; 2007–2009 and 2010-mid-2014, providing institutional charts for each.
State climate change action plans are treated synonymously with sustainable development planning. This approach usefully injects environmental issues into development planning, but represents a lost opportunity to internalize climate resilience.
India occupies an intriguing dual position in global climate politics – a poor and developing economy with low levels of historical and per capita emissions, and a large and rapidly growing economy with rising emissions.
This note undertakes a preliminary exploration of LCGPs in order to inform discussions on the appropriate role, if any, of this device in the global climate regime. What is the rationale for
LCGPs? What exactly constitutes a LCGP and what are the implications with regard to monitoring, reporting and verification for a country undertaking a LCGP? To what extent
Indian environmentalism has been an important, even defining, element of a distinctly Southern brand of environmentalism. Largely rooted in local struggles over access to and control over resources, a stylized Southern environmentalism is closely connected to concerns over social justice and driven by subalterns rather rather than professionals?
