Climate Policy

Embedding a development-centric climate-ready approach to policymaking

India can currently pursue a range of development pathways while addressing the challenges presented by climate change. In its choices, it must prioritise low-carbon development while ensuring equitable growth in employment, incomes, and quality of life. We approach the climate challenge from the lens of aligning climate policies with India’s development goals, and recognising the synergies and trade-offs inherent in policy choices. Through this, we aim to inform the design of a development-centric, climate-ready state.

We focus on three key steps of policy planning, design, and implementation at both, the national and subnational levels. First, we work to improve the use of emissions-economy models to enhance capacity to envision low-carbon development pathways. Second, we employ green industrial policy as a strategic approach to integrated policymaking. Third, we explore designs for a more suitable architecture of climate finance to enable these pathways and policies.

Our publications

This also includes publications by SFC team members in their past capacities.

Ratcheting Ambition in Climate Finance: Key Challenges and Goals for COP29

Nikita Shukla, Aman Srivastava, and Easwaran J. Narassimhan

8 November 2024

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The Regulatory and Market Landscape for Climate Finance Into India’s Renewable Energy Sector

Aman Srivastava, Srishti Jain et al.

31 October 2024

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India’s pathway to net zero by 2070: status, challenges, and way forward

Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Arunabha Ghosh et al.

Environmental Research Letters | 22 October 2024

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Opinions

Climate Policy

Climate and development: What opportunities, what threats?

Navroz K Dubash

ODI’s Development Policy Review | 20 September 2024

While it may be in the interests of developing countries to do development differently for climate reasons, the technological fact of falling renewable energy prices by no means imply a post-equity climate politics. But with weak prospects for a grand global bargain around climate and development, we may be in for messy country-by-country approaches to low-carbon development transitions.

Opinions

Climate Policy

Towards Operationalising a New Climate Right for India: Unpacking the Ranjitsinh Judgment

Navroz K Dubash and Shibani Ghosh

The India Forum | 19 September 2024

The Ranjitsinh ruling of the Supreme Court is potentially far-reaching but its limited view of action on climate change risks causing an inadequate framing of policy. It is legislation that is built on a bottom-up approach that can act on the Court’s calls for balance across multiple objectives.

Books and book chapters

Climate Policy

Climate Change: Policy, Institutional, and Legal Framework

Navroz K Dubash, Aditya Valiathan Pillai et al

Oxford University Press | 23 July 2024

Transforming towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient society will require reimagining existing governance arrangements. This chapter in ‘The Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Natural Resources Law in India’ documents how India’s policies, institutions, and legal structures have changed in response to climate change.

Opinions

Climate Policy

A law around low-carbon climate resilient development

Navroz K Dubash, Aditya Valiathan Pillai and Shibani Ghosh

The Hindu | 8 July 2024

Authors lay out an institutional vision for India’s climate law – knowledge-based ‘low-carbon development commission’; ‘climate cabinet’ to drive strategy; executive coordination body; and mechanisms for federal engagement.

Opinions

Climate Policy

Court on climate right and how India can enforce it

Navroz K Dubash, Shibani Ghosh and Aditya Valiathan Pillai

The Hindu | 1 July 2024

Because India is still developing, is highly vulnerable, and yet to build much of its infrastructure, what the country needs is a law that enables progress toward both low-carbon and climate resilient development.

Opinions

Climate Policy

Unpacking climate policy

Navroz K Dubash

Science Magazine | 6 June 2024

Policies that can usefully address climate change mitigation extend far beyond what an earlier literature defined as “mitigation policy”, which incorporates policy instrument design to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by means of, for instance, carbon tax, cap and trade, or border carbon adjustment. Instead, there is value in thinking much more expansively about climate policy: Effective “climate policy” may not always be “climate” policy.

Climate Policy

Mission 1.5: Enhancing international cooperation, enabling meeting the Paris Climate Agreement goals

IDDRI | 30 May 2024

This Note is an expert perspective of the vision and key design elements of the Troika-led Mission 1.5 UNFCCC process in order to effectively address the significant gaps in action and support for transitioning to low-GHG and climate-resilient economies in line with the Paris Climate Agreement goals. It therefore contributes ideas to Mission 1.5’s design, as delegates and observers meet in Bonn in early June 2024 to advance climate negotiations.

SFC Perspectives

Adaptation and Resilience

Climate Policy

Energy Transitions

Environmental Governance and Policy

SFC Perspectives on Adaptation and Resilience, Climate Policy, Energy Transitions, and Environmental Governance and Policy

SFC

SFC | 19 March 2024

SFC Perspectives are intended to stimulate discussion by providing an overview of key issues and avenues for action to inform India’s sustainable development trajectory.

SFC Perspectives

Climate Policy

Perspectives on Climate Policy: Embedding a development-centric, climate-ready approach to policymaking

Aman Srivastava, Easwaran J Narassimhan and Navroz K Dubash

SFC | 18 March 2024

The Climate Policy group within SFC approaches policy challenges through a strategic lens, aiming for long-term structural change by shifting discourse, building stronger institutions, and aligning conditions for implementation.

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Team members

Aman Srivastava

Fellow and Coordinator, Climate Policy

Easwaran J Narassimhan

Fellow and Coordinator, Climate Policy

Kashmeera Patel

Research Associate, Climate Policy

Navroz K Dubash

Visiting Senior Fellow and Chair of Advisory Council

Nikita Shukla

Research Associate, Climate Policy

Simran Agarwal

Senior Research Associate, Climate Policy