Climate change and India's growth story

Abstract

Climate Change is one of the most pressing issues plaguing our generation. India’s growth story has so far been fraught with several challenges such as non?inclusive growth, increasing stress on cities due to rapid urbanization, lag in infrastructure growth and the slow pace of policy making on key issues. Climate change is one issue which is increasingly coming to the forefront of our energy policy. Hence, its impact on the pace of our development is a clear and continuing concern. Quoting from the Indian government's Integrated Energy Policy, India needs to expand its primary energy supply by over three times and multiply electricity generation by over six times within the next 25 years to meet development targets. Clearly, coping successfully with our energy needs in the future is the key to sustaining our growth story. In light of India’s response to the Copenhagen Summit (India has promised to cut emissions intensity by 20?25% by 2020 over 2005 levels), it is pertinent to understand and evaluate the linkages between Climate Change and Growth from a broad perspective.