India does not have the luxury to develop now and “clean up” later
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This article first appeared in The Indian Express. Brookings India is an independent, non-partisan public policy research organisation based in New Delhi. The views are of the author(s).
New Year’s Day is an opportune occasion for reflection and re-emphasis. I summarise below 10 energy-related suggestions that I made last year, in part to remind and in part to influence the government’s agenda.
One, the energy conundrum is how to square the circle between the government’s commitment to provide universal access to affordable and reliable energy on one hand, and the imperative to weaken the linkage between economic growth, energy demand and environmental degradation on the other. The former requires securing “dirty” fossil fuels. The latter, a focus on “clean” renewables. The conundrum can be tackled by establishing an integrated planning process that factors in the implications of decisions concerning fossil fuels on renewables and vice versa, and by developing a policy mindset that enables the fulfillment of short-term objectives without compromising longer-term goals.
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Vikram Singh Mehta
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