The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) hosted a panel discussion on our paper – Climate Change Policy for Developing Countries by  Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Utkarsh Patel, on February 28, 6.00–7.30 PM (IST).

Abstract:

The paper attempts to take stock of what has been achieved in the COP 26 meetings held in Glasgow in November 2021 and outlines the actions developing countries must take now that they have committed to achieve net zero emissions. Although COP 26 made progress in several areas, the authors assess that many critical issues remain unresolved.
The new strategy for developing countries proposed in the paper tries to evolve a constructive approach that can further the dialogue to ameliorate the remaining critical gaps. The paper also outlines the various initiatives developing countries need to consider for achieving the emissions reduction targeted and suggests that each country should make a detailed plan for the next ten years, so that progress can be effectively monitored. On climate finance, the authors show that the volume of additional investment needed for the scale of the transition now envisaged by developing countries will be much larger than considered thus far. They suggest that a substantial portion will have to come from domestic sources and the rest from international sources through a combination of bilateral and multilateral public finance and from private corporates. The authors also suggest that since Indonesia, India, and Brazil are the next three chairs of the upcoming G20 Summits, the three countries could take the lead in mobilising the forum which is better positioned to influence policy on multilateral development banks.

Register for the Seminar here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3m1xmNwnR_C8HzkCXgf3oA

Authors:

• Montek Singh Ahluwalia is Distinguished Fellow at CSEP and has been a notable figure in Indian economic reforms since the 1980s. He has served as Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India, the first director of the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF and Deputy Chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission of India. He has written extensively on various aspects of economic growth and development, and is recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award for public service. He is author of the book, “Backstage: The Story Behind India’s High Growth Years” (2020).
• Utkarsh Patel is Associate Fellow at CSEP, working in the Sustainability & Climate Change domain. His research focuses on India’s climate policy, and the role of deep decarbonisation technologies like hydrogen and carbon capture & storage in the energy transition. He is also Research Associate at the Global Institute on Innovation Districts (Brooklyn, NY) and a PhD candidate at Brandenburg Technical University, Germany. Utkarsh has previously worked in the field of urbanisation and sustainable development in India at ICRIER, New Delhi, and holds masters’ degree from Madras School of Economics, Chennai, and Technical University Berlin.

Discussants:

• Dr Anshu Bharadwaj is the Chief Executive Officer of Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. He was a member of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS, 1992 batch, Karnataka cadre). In 2007, he joined as Executive Director of Centre of Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) and helped establish CSTEP as a leading technology policy Think Tank. He has expertise in technology and policy aspects of energy and environmental sectors. He holds a PhD from the Departments of Engineering and Public Policy and Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. He has a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and PGDM from Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
• Dr Mekala Krishnan is a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey’s business and economics research arm, based in Boston, MA. Her research focuses on topics related to inclusive growth and economic development, including climate risk, globalization, and gender economics. Her most recent research has explored the socioeconomic impacts of the climate transition and of physical climate risk across sectors and geographies. She is an author of the recent McKinsey Global Institute research Climate Risk and Response: Physical hazards and socioeconomic impacts. Mekala is a frequent speaker on these topics at global conferences as well as with executives at Fortune 500 companies. Mekala received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in 2011. Prior to Cornell, she received a Bachelor of Technology degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2006 from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
• Ulka Kelkar is Director, Climate program, WRI India. She is an economist with two decades of experience in climate change research, capacity building and outreach. She leads WRI India’s work on climate policy which aims to support India’s pathway to a climate-resilient low-carbon economy through judicious national policies, carbon market mechanisms, and effective implementation in states and cities. Before joining WRI India, Ulka worked as a consultant climate assessment specialist for the Asian Development Bank, and as a research fellow with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE).
• Nitin Desai has had a long and distinguished career in the Government of India and the United Nations. In the UN, he played a key role in promoting the idea of sustainable development and related policies. He worked at senior levels in the Planning Commission. Nitin was the Chief Economic Adviser and Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and has been associated with a variety of public service activities.

Moderator:

• Dr Laveesh Bhandari has a joint appointment at CSEP as a Senior Fellow and also heads Indicus Foundation. An economist, entrepreneur and an environmentalist, he is leading the climate change capability at CSEP. His current research spans climate change and sustainability, energy and agriculture transition, and also wider issues of inclusion. Laveesh has published widely on subjects related to sustainable livelihoods, industrial, economic and social reforms in India, economic geography and financial inclusion. As an entrepreneur Laveesh has also founded successful ventures in the research, analytics and digital domains.

Please contact Monica Sharma for general inquiries and Ribhu Ranjan for media inquiries.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.