What Our Planet Needs Now

India’s leading eco-experts explain our biggest environmental challenges and what we can do to make a difference

BUILDING A CLIMATE-READY INDIA

Dr Navroz Dubash, Professor at the Centre for Policy Research

India’s climate ambitions are couched in ‘co-benefits’—actions that bring development and reduce carbon emissions at the same time. This is a productive approach, but our current government fails to encourage officials, businesses and communities to actively seek such opportunities. Nor do we think about development through the lens of what allows for a low-carbon future, which is essential for a rapidly developing country. How can we grow in carbon-friendly ways? How do we build livable yet carbon-efficient cities? We need to empower states to experiment with low-carbon solutions, by supporting them with knowledge, capacity and finance. India must be re-tooled to more aggressively address the challenges of climate change, both in terms of reducing emissions and addressing impact.

The electricity sector is key to India’s low-carbon future—our journey to zero net-carbon is paved by greater shares of renewable energy and shifting uses such as transport (especially public transport), cooking and, eventually, industries, to non-oil, non-coal and non-gas energy sources. However, 20th-century problems of black-outs (despite a surplus), low bill collection and poor quality supply must first be fixed. One way is to improve peoples’ capacity to pay for power, especially in rural areas, by subsidizing not consumption but productive equipment, creating a consumer base willing to pay for the transition to renewable energy. People will pay because their income and productivity goes up.