2.4.1 Vested or public interest? The case of India Sudhir Chella Rajan1
India has evolved into the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the world, accounting for 5 per cent of global emissions. If current projections hold true, it will account for up to one-third of the world’s energy demand by 2050. As a result, India will assume a greater role in the global climate regime, putting the spotlight on climate policymaking and on the matrix of influences and interests engaging in this process in the world’s largest democracy.2 Until very recently, climate change was an obscure subject in India, relegated to the back pages of newspapers and remote from the primary concerns of both policy-makers and the general public. The issue began to attract more attention in the popular media only after high-level discussions of India’s role began to dominate international summits, such as the G8 and Major Economies Forum, the country’s partnering with other major CO 2
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emitters to develop the Copenhagen Accord in December 2009 and its prominent role at COP 16 in Cancún in December 2010. Some business interests and civil society groups have been quietly lobbying the government in recent years to take advantage of important new climaterelated financial opportunities, however. These include, in particular, the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which encourages emissions reduction projects in developing countries. At the same time, lobbying by the energy sector, though not associated with climate policy until recently, has a longer history and carries bigger stakes, and crucially shapes the prospects for climate mitigation efforts in India. A closer look at both these processes sheds an intriguing light on the challenges and opportunities for accountable, public interest-driven climate mitigation policies in India.
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