OIES Podcast – India’s Progress on its Climate Action Plan

India has taken on the unique challenge of trying to decarbonize while also growing its economy at 8-9% per annum. This is the required growth rate in order to meet the aspirations of its people related to decent employment, reliable economic growth, and improved standards of living. If you’ve heard the expression “trying to change your tire while driving at 90 mph on the motorway”, this is a good analogy for what India is doing!

In this podcast David Ledesma talks to Mohua Mukherjee, Senior Research Fellow at the OIES discusses India’s progress on its Climate Action Plan. There is no successful precedent or role model for a country that is trying to meet all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the one hand, and trying to meet very ambitious climate goals on the other. India will have to invent its own way of getting there and it is doing precisely that, since it signed on to both the SDGs and the Paris Agreement in late 2015.  The IEA notes: ‘More than that of any other major economy, India’s energy future depends on buildings and factories yet to be built, and vehicles and appliances yet to be bought. . .This represents a huge opening for policies to steer India on to a more secure and sustainable course.”

By: OIES