1st Edition
Financing Climate Action India in a Global Context
The urgency of mitigating climate change is mounting globally, and developing countries have a key role to play in ensuring a sustainable future. This book provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of climate finance from the perspective of developing economies, with a focus on India.
Catalysing climate action requires economic and societal adjustments, beginning with additional resource mobilisation, capital reallocation and financing structures supported by appropriate regulations, reasonably functioning markets and effective institutions. Through an integrated assessment of macro-financial policies and market microstructures, this book provides a thorough understanding of how countries in the Global South can effectively mobilise and deploy financial resources to address climate change challenges. It brings together the views of academics, bureaucrats, policy analysts and civil society organisations that are actively engaged in climate finance to discuss challenges and options for India as it seeks to finance effective climate action. It offers a plurality of often-opposing ideas and observations, rooted in the reality of India’s political economy. The volume presents novel solutions as well as lessons from international experiences to initiate and accelerate the flow of finance into climate related activities.
This book will be an essential resource for scholars in environmental studies, development economics, and public policy, while offering crucial insights for policymakers and practitioners engaged in sustainable finance.
This book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Boxes
List of Contributors
Preface and Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Mritiunjoy Mohanty and Runa Sarkar
PART 1 Climate Finance Landscape
Climate Finance Landscape: An Introduction
Mritiunjoy Mohanty and Runa Sarkar
1. Financing Net-zero: An Assessment of Top-down and Bottom-up Approaches in India
Saon Ray (ICRIER), Kuntala Bandyopadhyay (University of Massachusetts Boston), and Piyali Majumder (IIM Rohtak)
2. Public Finance Catalysing Private Capital for Scaling Renewable Energy Projects
Ajay Mathur (International Solar Alliance) and Anita Marangoly George(Prosperete)
3. Financing India’s Decarbonisation Journey – The Role of Private Investment for Mitigation
Ajay Shankar (TERI School of Advanced Studies)
4. How to Make Climate Change Action a Nationwide Movement in India and How to Finance It?
Vijay Mahajan
5. Alarm Calls are Ringing Out
Manish Agarwal (Askhow) and Yogesh Upadhyaya (Askhow)
6. How to ‘Reform, Target and Shift’ Domestic Public Finance Effectively: Lessons from Energy Financing in India
Swasti Raizada (IISD) and Deepak Sharma (IISD)
PART 2 Governance
Governance: An Introduction
Mritiunjoy Mohanty and Runa Sarkar
7. Addressing Climate-Related Financial Risks: Interrogating Efficacy of Actions by RBI
Nandan Nawn (Jamia Millia Islamia)
8. Achieving Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Resilience in Low-Income Contexts: The Bay of Bengal Region
Vikram K. Chand, Dipak Dasgupta (TERI School of Advanced Studies) and Nihal Pitigala
9. Financing Climate Action at Subnational Level: Public Expenditure Tracking in Maharashtra
Saransh Bajpai (WRI India), Pranav Prakhyat Garimella (WRI India) and Faiza Solanki (WRI India)
10. Financing Climate action at Local Level: Scope, Opportunities and Challenges
Shivika Solanki (Vasudha Foundation), Rini Dutt (Vasudha Foundation) and Swati Gupta (Vasudha Foundation)
PART 3 Instruments and Mechanisms
Instruments and Mechanisms: An Introduction
Mritiunjoy Mohanty and Runa Sarkar
11. Increasing Flows for Green and Transition Finance – Thinking Beyond Bank Debt
Kalpesh Gada (CPI) and Neha Khanna (CPI)
12. Navigating Carbon Pricing in India: Assessing Policy Options, Impacts, and Pathways to a Sustainable Economy
Shubhashis Dey (SoSul) and Kartikey Sharma (WRI)
13. Sub-national Climate Finance needs and innovations to mobilize requisite resources – Case for Maharashtra
Upendra Bhatt (cKinetics)
14. Beyond the Trillions: Solving Climate through Innovation and Risk Capital than Big Money
Shailesh Vickram Singh (Go Massive)
PART 4 Financing The Real Economy to Address Climate Change
Financing The Real Economy to Address Climate Change: An Introduction
Mritiunjoy Mohanty and Runa Sarkar
15. Blended Capital Market Mechanisms for Critical Decarbonisation Projects in India
Labanya Prakash Jena (IEEFA) and Saurabh Trivedi (IEEFA)
16. Financing Energy Efficiency for MSMEs in India
Shantanu Srivastava (IEEFA) and Vibhuti Garg (IEEFA)
17. Mainstreaming Transition Plan Disclosures for Indian Companies
Shantanu Srivastava (IEEFA)
18. Carbon markets as a necessary element to support Climate Financing in India
Pawan Mehra (cKinetics), Tarana Ahmed (cKinetics), Tanay Sawhney (cKinetics) and Malaika Aggarwal (cKinetics)
19. Financing India's Green Grid: Overcoming Challenges and Unlocking Investment for Renewable Integration
Arnab Sarkar (CPI), Md Tariq Habib (CPI) and Vivek Sen (CPI)
20. Financing Just Transition in the Coal Mining Sector: Trade Union Perspectives
Randhir Kumar (IIM Calcutta), Aiman Nida (IIM Calcutta), and S.M.F Pasha (ITUC)
PART 5 Public Resources
Public Resources: An Introduction
Mritiunjoy Mohanty and Runa Sarkar
21. Grants and Granting Mechanisms for the Loss and Damage Fund
Uma Pal, Runa Sarkar and Aanandita Sikka
22. Back to the Future: A Case for a Green Investment Bank
Mritiunjoy Mohanty
23. Green Quantitative Easing: What the Lender of the Last Resort can do for Saving the Planet
Ankit Kumar and Runa Sarkar
PART 6 Lessons From Other Economies
Lessons From Other Economies: An Introduction
Mritiunjoy Mohanty and Runa Sarkar
24. Financing Energy Transition: Private Gains or Public Risk
Simran Grover), Priyanka Goel, Manish Kumar Mahto and Anuj Goyal
25. Green Fiscal Instruments for a Transition to Low-Carbon Economy: Experience from European Countries and Lessons for India
Sabuj Kumar Mandal , Tanurima Brahma and Vardhini V
26. Transition Planning and Country Platforms as a Way to Accelerate Development and Climate Action – Discussing Global Developments and Lessons for India
Madhura Joshi, Laura Sabogal Reyes and Kavya Singhal
27. Indonesia’s Energy Transition – The Progress and Challenge so far
Ramnath Iyer and Mutya Yustika
Index
Biography
Runa Sarkar is a professor with the Economics Group at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Her interests lie in sustainable development, where business interests are in consonance with environmental and social interests. She serves as an independent director on the boards of Bandhan Financial Holdings Limited, Climate Policy Initiative and BASIX Consulting and Technology Services.
Mritiunjoy Mohanty retired in September 2024 as a professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata. Outside of climate change, he is currently also researching the comparative growth trajectories of China and India and the nature and pattern of their integration into the global economy.
