The Political Economy of Clean Development in India: CDM and Beyond

Global policies and instruments to tackle climate change look very different once translated into domestic programmes of action, reflecting varied institutional capacity, competing priorities, and diverse political cultures and political economies. In light of these variations, this article analyses how clean energy is governed in India, both through and beyond the Clean Development Mechanism. Governance processes are assessed across a number of scales, including various actors involved in mobilising finance and providing political and institutional support for clean energy. The nature of these relationships ultimately determines the nature of the relationship between policy goals such as energy security, alleviation of energy poverty and greenhouse gas emission reductions. Understanding these governance dimensions is therefore critical to assessing prospects for low carbon energy transitions in rapidly industrialising countries such as India.