As the new government settles in, what it does to scale up climate action will affect every Ministry, and every sector
Some of its choices would be pivotal to how India structures its economic path in a sustainable way, positions itself as the voice of the Global South at the right tables, and fights for climate finance and justice over the next five years
In the next five years, the government must accelerate and show the world that economic development can be sustainable, too.
India should follow the mantra of ‘go higher, go wider, go deeper’ to align its climate leadership with economic prowess.
Proposed three-pronged approach
‘Go higher’ relates to India’s global leadership. The country could, sooner or later, host important international climate summits.
If it were to host the United Nations Conference of Parties in 2028, it would need to be as successful as the G-20 Presidency.
In global negotiations, four years is not that far.
It takes at least four to five years to achieve consensus on contentious issues.
Deciding on what could potentially be the big wins in 2028 and socialising these across countries to stitch alliances and allay concerns must start right away.
Alongside, India should continue doubling down on the narrative of equity in international forums, and create leadership space for itself in global institutions that can deliver climate finance
‘Go wider’ means India has to adopt and strongly communicate sectoral emission reduction targets that go beyond the power sector.
India has achieved significant progress in the power sector and will continue to do so to keep pace with its international non-fossil share-related and domestic renewable energy capacity targets.
The next step is to broaden the target to other sectors.
For instance, it could be related to the private mobility space, giving a clear target for zero-carbon two- and four-wheelers.
This is not just an urban India project.
It will help rural India become mobile, drive jobs in clean energy and sustainability, and promote economic growth.
Finally, ‘going deeper’ implies that sub-national climate action and resilience must come to the fore in this term of the government.
Some shoots of this are already visible.
The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) is working across many States in India to support their net-zero plans through long-term climate and energy modelling.
The government should think about :
creating a Centre-State coordination group,
incentivising State-level climate actions through the Sixteenth Finance Commission,
promoting a deeper integration of scientific modelling capabilities in policymaking, and
facilitating a unified data measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) architecture at the State level.
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