Aligning Energy, Development, and Mitigation

Energy, development, and climate change are inextricably intertwined in the Indian context. Energy is an important contributor to development and the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, while climate change poses serious developmental threats. In this context, we identify a few key elements in the energy sector’s transition which will shape India’s response to this challenge of balancing multiple interests, providing access to modern energy, and ensuring a financially viable sector, while avoiding counterproductive lock-ins. These include programmes to promote energy efficiency and enhance energy access, the possible evolution of the transport sector, and the challenges of integrating renewables on the one hand and the gradual, but inevitable, phase out of coal on the other, while dealing with the vexed problem of its distribution utilities. That India has to walk this tightrope hamstrung by its traditionally weak institutions and governance structures and fractious politics makes it all the more challenging.