Publications : Blogs
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Examining the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: Issues and Challenges
Effective implementation of the CCTS will enable Indian enterprises to demonstrate their commitment to low-carbon production processes using green technologies, which can reduce CBAM costs and expand green energy-intensive export opportunities in the EU market.Critical Mineral Supply Chains: Trilateral Perspectives from Japan, India...
The Indo-Pacific countries should use their domestic capacities optimally and participate in global supply chains with a diverse range of partner countries in mining, processing, assembling, and final-use activities. India is currently discussing trilateral cooperation with France and Japan.Quad-ASEAN Technology Cooperation for Critical Minerals Supply Chains
As a part of CSEP's ongoing work on securing critical minerals for India’s green technology and net-zero transition, this analysis incorporates emerging thoughts on Quad-ASEAN cooperation in creating resilient regional supply chains.The Poor Should Control Carbon Emissions, But the Rich Must Eliminate Them
If the world must achieve zero emissions by 2050, it’s impractical and unfair to require all countries to reach that goal simultaneously.Policy Analysis: Mine Closure in India
In India, existing mine closure legislation lacks provisions to adequately address the socio-economic and cultural aspects, highlighting the need for an improved policy paradigm.Projecting Critical Mineral Needs for India’s Renewable Electricity...
For critical minerals, especially those with no known domestic resources, mineral-wise strategies are required to ensure their robust access for India’s manufacturing needs and climate change mitigation ambitions.Mining Matters Episode 3: Underlining the Critical Role of Critical...
Ranjan Mathai, Former Foreign Secretary of India, joins Ganesh Sivamani to discuss what India must do to secure its domestic and international supply chains of ‘critical minerals’.It is Unfair to Push Poor Countries to Reach Zero Carbon Emissions too...
Rahul Tongia argues about the need to shift the conversation from futuristic Net-Zero ambitions toward practical and equitable emissions trajectories in this year's COP.Follow-up Thoughts on India’s Grid 2030: A Glass Half Cloudy
India should aggressively go down the RE path, but not focus on just RE. Energy efficiency, smart systems, energy security, local manufacturing, livelihoods, fiscal balances, etc. are all very important.Mining Matters Episode 2: Mining for Growth and Development – A...
Ganesh Sivamani discusses the Indian mining sector, and how it can become a catalyst for the country’s growth and development with Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice-President (Corporate Services), Tata Steel.Climate Change in Bangladesh: Global Players vs Local Activism
Social and ecological change in Bangladesh today has been profoundly shaped by colonialism and its legacies, so recognition of this helps us to better understand climate change today.New Mining Techniques: Exploring the Deep Sea
Ishita Kapoor's blog explores the possibility of deep sea bed mining while also safeguarding the fragile ecosystem of ocean beds.Mining Matters Episode 1: Exploration – A Geologist’s Perspective
In the first episode of Mining Matters, “Exploration – A Geologist’s Perspective”, Ishita Kapoor discusses various issues relating to exploration, auctions and sustainability, including the environment and affected communities, with Dr Nik Senapati, President of the Australia India Business Council in Queensland.Balancing India’s electricity grid in 2030: A detailed, granular...
India has some of the most aggressive RE targets in the world. How can we offer solutions to balance the electricity grid and osupply and demand?Reforms in the mining sector: Comments and recommendations
The Ministry of Mines issued a notice on proposed reforms in the mining sector under nine different categories. This blog piece gives recommendations and suggestions in response to these reforms as well as additional comments on making the mining sector a catalyst for economic growth and development.India needs to strengthen, not dilute, environmental assessments
The Indian government’s proposed EIA draft has been criticised for diluting the environment assessment process. What are good international precedents that India can follow?India’s energy transition: Coal is down but not out
The coal transition is already underway. There may be a lot of uncertainty, but what is even more certain is that the future will not look like the past – and it shouldn’t. The future should be cleaner, more inclusive, more efficient, and more secure, not to mention cost-effective.Why India’s push for private-sector coal mining won’t raise carbon...
After decades of public-sector dominance, and controls that relegated the private sector to minority status in coal mining, India recently launched commercial coal mining via coal mine auctions. Proponents argue this will help bring in not just more capital and improved technology, but also improve the quality of production and output; critics worry this will lock ...COVID-19 is an opportunity to clean up India’s coal power plants
The arrival of COVID-19 in India led to a lockdown requiring 1.3 billion people to stay at home. Economic activity, at least in the first two versions of the lockdown, almost came to a standstill. By many standards, this was the world’s strictest lockdown. Total demand of grid electricity between March 25 ...District Mineral Foundation funds can help COVID-19 hit mining areas
The Prime Minister of India held a meeting on April 30, 2020 to consider reforms in the mines and coal sector to jump-start the Indian economy in the backdrop of COVID-19. The mining sector, which is a primary supplier of raw materials to the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, is being considered to ...Utilising District Mineral Foundation funds to fight the COVID-19 crisis...
In wake the of the growing COVID-19 crisis and the strain on healthcare resources, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 announced that District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds can be used by state governments to augment healthcare. This includes supplementing healthcare facilities, screening and testing requirements, and any other support that ...How to hasten the energy transition in the developing world
Emerging economies are expected to experience the highest growth in energy demand in the coming decades, mostly because they are starting from a low or modest base. This means their future energy trajectories must be at an intersection of inclusive, affordable, and sustainable growth. However, for all the potential that advanced energy technologies ...India 2024: A green India
India faces a variety of challenges related to energy and the environment. Here are several initiatives that the next government could contemplate early on in its term. Integrate Energy and Environmental Policy The various ministries currently engaged with energy and the environment should be collapsed into one omnibus Ministry of Energy and ...India 2024: An energised India
Providing affordable and accessible energy to every citizen while ensuring energy security has been the cornerstone of India’s energy policy. Over the years, this policy has been shaped by numerous socio-economic and political factors including the dichotomy between a nationalised Indian energy sector (upstream and downstream) and a more ‘liberated’ economy; centre-state ...India 2024: A sustainable India
How things change in five years. We have seen many positive steps, some with effort, some part of broader global trends. Nearly all homes in India today have an electricity connection, and the prices of solar power have crashed to a level where newspapers talk of “grid parity.” Carbon is a universal ...India 2024: A productive India
India’s policy default in the energy sector has been a focus on infrastructure addition with the goal of sufficiency. This made sense based on the deficits it was facing after Independence, especially in the electricity sector. Reliable and assured energy is also a prerequisite for robust industrial and manufacturing growth. But now, ...India 2024: A clean India
India continues to suffer from a number of systemic challenges, many dating back decades, when it comes to governance, the delivery of services, and financial sustainability. The next government should focus its efforts on a few areas. Cut Out Middlemen Today, a major scourge on governance in India – including in the ...Around the halls: Brookings experts on what to watch at the COP 24 climate...
The 24th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) begins Monday, December 3, in Katowice, Poland. Normally the host plays a big leadership role. This is the third time Poland has physically hosted the COP more than any other country, except Germany (which hosts the ...Understanding India, its energy needs and ambitions, and the global...
At least one newspaper headline this year declared that renewable energy in India is now cheaper than coal and that coal is surely on its way out. However, recent research from my Brookings colleague Samantha Gross and me shows that the transition will not be nearly as smooth as some imagine. Renewable ...Embarrassment of riches? The rise of RE in India and steps to manage...
Does India have ‘too much’ electricity capacity? Every electricity grid operates in a balance between supply and demand, usually with a slight surplus of capacity to meet eventualities and uncertainty too much surplus becomes expensive. Surplus has two sides: either the demand is lower than projected, or supply is higher than required ...Transition to electric vehicles in Karnataka and India: What’s real,...
The recent policy push for electrifying mobility in India has spurred a host of national and sub-national policies, private sector investment in technology and infrastructure, and business models piloted or deployed in the electric vehicles (EV) segment. Many plans are based on targets or manufacturing, and there are few conversations about holistic ...Commercial coal mining in India: A possible but not irrefutable game...
The recent Cabinet decision to open up coal mining to commercial miners, who will now have the freedom to sell coal in the open market, is an interesting development. For decades since its nationalisation, the public sector Coal India Limited (CIL) has dominated coal production in India, producing some 82 per cent ...Is future planning of electricity grid keeping India’s pace of...
A seminar and discussion at Brookings India recently focused on the impact of electrification on the electricity demand growth and also included insights from global experiences and the possible policy implications for India. Key speaker at this event was Johannes Urpelainen of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Founding Director ...Trump’s Paris Agreement withdrawal: What it means and what comes...
Today, President Donald Trump announced that he will withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change. It was adopted in 2015 by 195 nations, with 147 ratifying it including the United States, which is the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter. Experts offer their analyses on what the ...No Imminent Renewables “Death Spiral” for India’s...
Rahul Tongia explains the challenges facing utility companies in India from distributed generation of renewables and a tiered pricing system in need of reform.Smart Grids in India: Separating Hype from Hope
Rahul Tongia discusses why Smart Grids in India have become a distinct possibility, instead of a science experiment, and why they can succeed now.
Why Renewable Energy Is Harder in India than in Other Countries
Rahul Tongia discusses the challenges of renewable energy sources in India and offers recommendations to help better integrate renewables into the grid.