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CSEP Annual Report 2023
Saturday, August 24
Domains
Growth, Finance, Health & Human Development
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
Foreign Policy & Security
Publications
People
Researchers
Communication & Development
Administration & Finance
Staff Directory
Vikram Singh Mehta
Chairman & Distinguished Fellow
Laveesh Bhandari
President and Senior Fellow
Rakesh Mohan
President Emeritus & Distinguished Fellow
Shivshankar Menon
Distinguished Fellow
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Distinguished Fellow
Anoop Singh
Distinguished Fellow
Jaimini Bhagwati
Distinguished Fellow
N.K. Singh
Distinguished Fellow
Shishir Gupta
Senior Fellow
Rahul Tongia
Senior Fellow
Rajesh Chadha
Senior Fellow
Sandhya Venkateswaran
Senior Fellow
Janak Raj
Senior Fellow
Renu Kohli
Senior Fellow
Amita Batra
Senior Fellow
Amarjeet Sinha
Senior Fellow
Constantino Xavier
Senior Fellow
Uday Singh Mehta
Visiting Senior Fellow
Indrani Gupta
Visiting Senior Fellow
Om Prakash Mathur
Visiting Senior Fellow
Sanjay Kathuria
Visiting Senior Fellow
T.G. Srinivasan
Visiting Senior Fellow
Shalabh Srivastava
Visiting Senior Fellow
Amaresh Dubey
Visiting Senior Fellow
Shreekant Gupta
Visiting Senior Fellow
Deepak Maheshwari
Senior Consultant
Bhaskar Chakravorti
Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Ramu Damodaran
Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Richard K. Green
Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Daljit Singh
Fellow
Rajasekhar Devaguptapu
Fellow
Debarpita Roy
Fellow
Sharath Rao
Fellow
Shyamasis Das
Fellow
Priyadarshini Singh
Fellow
Neethi Rao
Fellow
Amrita Agarwal
Visiting Fellow
Ashwini Chitnis
Visiting Fellow
Nandita Bhan
Visiting Fellow
Indranil Mukhopadhyay
Visiting Fellow
Vandana Vasudevan
Visiting Fellow
Yashika Singh
Visiting Fellow
Anirudh Shingal
Visiting Fellow
Anuradha De
Visiting Fellow
Jabin Jacob
Non-Resident Fellow
Anit Mukherjee
Non-Resident Fellow
Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan
Non-Resident Fellow
Sahil Gandhi
Non-Resident Fellow
Rajat Verma
Associate Fellow
Riya Sinha
Associate Fellow
Amshika Amar
Associate Fellow
Pooja Vijay Ramamurthi
Associate Fellow
Veda Vaidyanathan
Associate Fellow
Prerna Prabhakar
Associate Fellow
Ganesh Sivamani
Associate Fellow
Utkarsh Patel
Visiting Associate Fellow
Abhishek Kumar
Non-Resident Associate Fellow
Events
Upcoming Events
Past Events
Conferences
External Engagements
Videos
Explainer
In Dialogue
Mining Matters
India and the World
Union Budget Reflections
About
Who We Are
Founders Circle & Friends
Funding & Support
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Current Openings
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Research
Opinion & Commentary
Topic
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Papers
Opinion & Commentary
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Blogs
Domain
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Topic
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Access & Social Contract
Carbon Tracker
Climate Change
Coal, Oil & Gas
Electricity
Future of Energy
Minerals & Mining
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Authors
All
Aakanksha Shrawan
Aakshi Chaba
Aaron Savio Lobo
Aarushi Dave
Aasheerwad Dwivedi
Aashi Gupta
Aashita Dawer
Abhishek Mishra
Abhishek Kumar
Adie Tomer
Aditi sudan
Adrianna Pita
Annie George
Aishwarya Agarwal
Ajai Nirula
Ajay Chhibber
Ajey Sangai
A K Gupta
Akhilesh Upadhyay
Alex Tabarrok
Alina Polyakova
Alok Kumar Singh
Amanda Sloat
Amar Bhattacharya
Amaresh Dubey
Amarjeet Sinha
Ambuj Chaturvedi
Ambuj Roy
Amish Raj Mulmi
Amita Batra
Amitendu Palit
Amitesh Sirvaiya
Amrita Agarwal
Amshika Amar
Amy Liu
Ananth Krishnan
Aneka Rebecca Rajbhandari
Angira Shukla
Anindita Sinh
Anirudh Shingal
Anit Mukherjee
Ankit Bhatia
Ankita Garg
Anoop Singh
Antara Ghosal Singh
Anthony W. Orlando
Anupam Nanda
Anuradha De
Anuradha Sajjanhar
Anurag Sehgal
Anushka Saxena
Aparajita Nair Dmonty
Aparna Preethan
Aparna Roy
Aprajita Prasad
Aradhika Menokee
Arnab Dutta
Arun K Mishra
Asanga Abeyagoonasekera
Ashley Jose
Ashok K Lahiri
Ashok Sreenivas
Ashwini Chitnis
Ashwini Narayanan
Avani Kapur
Axel Nordenstam
Ayush Khare
Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan
Baran Pradhan
Barun Deb Pal
Beverly Milton Edwards
Bhanubhatra Jittiang
Bhaskar Chakravorti
Bhavna Sharma
Bhavyanshi Sinha
Bhumika Sharma
Bibek Debroy
Biplob Chatterjee
Will Moreland
Brookings
Brookings Institution
Bruce Jones
Bruce Riedel
Chanakya Chaudhary
Charles K Ebinger
Charmi Mehta
Chathumi Ayanthi Kavirathna
Cheng Li
Cheshta Grover
Christina Kwauk
Christopher Meserole
Chunalee Attanayake
Colette D Honorable
Collin Koh Swee Lean
Constantino Xavier
Constanze Stelzenmuller
D P Sengupta
Daljit Singh
Dan Arbell
Daniel L Byman
Dany Bahar
Darrell M West
David Dam
David Dollar
David G Victor
David Wessel
Debapriya Saha
Debarpita Roy
Deborah Seligsohn
Deepak Agrawal
Deepak Maheshwari
Deepak Premnarayen
Devashish Sharma
Dhruv Gupta
Dhruva Jaishankar
Dhruva Teja Nandipati
Divya Jain
Divya Srinivasan
Diana Liang
Dweepobotee Brahma
Eun DuBois
Elizabeth Ferris
Emily Gustafsson Wright
Eswar Prasad
Eul Noh
Federica Saini Fasanotti
Filippos Letsas
Frank A Rose
Fred Dews
Fuad Cassim
Ganesh Sivamani
Gaurav Dalmia
Gautam Ray
Geethanjali Nataraj
Geetika Dang
Geetika Gupta
George Skaria
Gulzar Natarajan
Gurmeet Kaur
Hana Chambers
Harsha Vardhana Singh
Hasna Munas
Hillary Schaub
Homi Kharas
Honey Karun
Howard Schaffer
Ian Wallace
Indrani Gupta
Indranil Mukhopadhyay
Isha Agarwal
Ishita Kapoor
Izzy Boggild Jones
Jabin Jacob
Jack Karsten
Jahnavi Mukul
Jaimini Bhagwati
James Kirchick
Janak Raj
Janani Shankaran
Javier Solana
Jayapadma RV
Jeffrey A Bader
Jeffrey Ball
Jessica Seddon
Jessica Brandt
Jhalak Aggarwal
Jitesh Rastogi
Jonathan D Pollack
Joseph Chinyong Liow
Joseph Kane
Joshua P Meltzer
Jennifer Perron
Jung Hyun Choi
kritima Bhapta
K Prahalad
Kadira Pethiyagoda
Kanak Gokarn
Kandarp Patel
Kanishkh Kanodia
Karthik Nachiappan
Katy Collin
Kausheya Basu
Kaushik Basu
Kaveri Thara
Kavita Patel
Karthik Bansal
Kristen BelleIsle
Kemal Kirisci
Ketan Gupta
Kevin James
Khushboo Balani
Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu
Krishanu Karmakar
Krishnamurthy Subramanian
Kriti Raj Rai
Kunal Bali
Laveesh Bhandari
Laura McGhee
Louise Tillin
Lucas Daley
Lydia Jayakumar
M.R Saluja
Madhavan Somanathan
Madhulika Khanna
Madhurima Nundy
Mahesh Kumar Kushwaha
Maitreyee Mangu
Mallika Anand
Mariam Koruth
Mark Muro
Martin Indyk
Martin S Indyk
Matteo Garavoglia
Mayank Mishra
Mayuri Gupta
Medha Prasanna
Michael E Ohanlon
Michael O Hanlon
Miheer Jain
Mireya Solis
Monica Herz
Monica Sharma
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Mudit Kapoor
Muhammad Tabish Parray
Nachiket Mor
Nadine Monteiro
Naini Swami
Nancy Gupta
Nandini Agnihotri
Nandita Bhan
Natan Sachs
Nathan Hultman
Naushad Forbes
Navroz K Dubash
Neelanjana Gupta
Neelima Khetan
Neethi Rao
Neil G Ruiz
Network Eighteen
Niara Sareen
Nidhi Varma
Niharika Mehrotra
Nikhil Iyer
Nikhil Tyagi
Nirupama Jayaraman
Nishmeet Singh
Niteesh Shanbog
Nitika Mehta
Nitika Nayar
N.K. Singh
Om Prakash Mathur
Pankhuri Bhatt
Pariroo Rattan
Partha Ray
Patricia F Harris
Pavel K Baev
Pawani Dasgupta
Peter Jarka-Sellers
Peter Nichols
Philip A Wallach
Philippe Le Corre
Pooja Ramamurthi
Prabhash Ranjan
Prachi Singh
Pradeep Guin
Prajakta Shukla
Preeti Sinha
Prerna Prabhakar
Prerna Sharma
Pritam Banerjee
Priti Dubey
Priyadarshini Singh
Priyam Awasthi
Priyanka Tomar
Puneet Kamboj
Puneeth Nagaraj
Purvaja Modak
Radha Malani
Rahul Ahluwalia
Rahul Dhir
Rahul Tongia
Rahul Walawalkar
Rahul Ranjan
Rajasekhar Devaguptapu
Rajat Kathuria
Rajat Verma
Rajeev Kumar
Rajesh Chadha
Rajeswari Rajagopalan
Rakesh Mohan
Ram Ranjan
Ramandeep Jakhu
Ramandeep Singh
Ramu Damodaran
Randeep Guleria
Ranj Alaaldin
Rashmi Saurav
Rashmi Kundu
Raunab Singh Khatri
Ravi Shankar Chaturvedi
Rebecca Winthrop
Reena Sudan
Renu Kohli
Rhea Sethi
Richa Roy
Richard C Bush
Richard K Green
Ridhi Purohit
Ritwik Shukla
Ritwika Sharma
Riya Sinha
Robert Einhorn
Robert J Einhorn
Robert L Mckenzie
Robert Puentes
Rohan Sandhu
Rohit Reddy
Rohit Vijay
Rishita Sachdeva
Rush Doshi
Ryan Hass
S V Subramanian
Sachin Chaturvedi
Sagnik Dey
Saheb Singh Chadha
Sahil Ali
Sahil Gandhi
Samantha Gross
Samar SJB Rana
Sampriti Mukherjee
Sana Ali
Sandhya Venkateswaran
Saneet Chakradeo
Sanjana Hattotuwa
Sanjay Kathuria
Sanjna Agarwal
Santosh Harish
Sara Perlangeli
Sarah Yerkes
Sarvoday Kumar
Saumya Jain
Sejal Yadav
Shahidul Haque
Shahtaj Mahmud
Shalabh Srivastava
Shalini Chauhan
Shamika Ravi
Shaonlee Patranabis
Sharad Pandey
Sharath Rao
Shauryavir Dalal
Shayak Sengupta
Shifali Goyal
Shishir Gupta
Shivshankar Menon
Shreekant Gupta
Shruti Jargad
Shruti Gakhar
Shruti Godbole
Shruti Gupta
Shruti Jargad
Shruti Slaria
Shyamasis Das
Siddharth Singh
Sikim Chakraborty
Sisir Debnath
Suzanne Maloney
Sofi Bergkvist
Sofia Shehana Basheer
Sourangsu Chowdhury
Srestha Banerjee
Srishti Katoch
Stephen P Cohen
Steven Pifer
Strobe Talbott
Subhanshi Negi
Subhashini Abeysinghe
Subir Gokarn
Sukhmani Kaur Toor
Sumit Prasad
Supriya Ravishankar
Suzanne Maloney
Swati Mitchelle Dsouza
Tamara Cofman Wittes
Tanima Pal
Tanvi Madan
Tarandeep Kaur
Tarun Chhabra
Tarun Khanna
TCA Avni
CSEP
Ted Piccone
Teresita C Schaffer
Teresita Schaffer
TG Srinivasan
Tim Boersma
Timmons Roberts
Todd Stern
Torrey Taussig
Trishna Wahengbam
Uday Mehta
Ulrich Voltz
Umesh Kumar
Umika Chanana
Urvashi Sahni
Utkarsh Dalal
Utkarsh Patel
V Anantha Nageswaran
Vaidehi Tandel
Valbha Shakya
Vanda Felbab Brown
Vandana Vasudevan
Veda Vaidyanathan
Vikram Singh Mehta
Vinod Thomas
Vrinda Gupta
Vrinda Gupta
Vyoma Jha
Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu
Will Moreland
William A Galston
William J Antholis
Yashika Singh
Yashobanta Parida
Zachary Balin
Zhuo Zhang
Year
All
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Publications : Opinion & Commentary
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
From Uttarakhand to Wayanad: Balancing Realpolitik with Green Transition
Challenge for our leaders is to walk the line between sustainability and demands of national security and economic growth
Vikram Singh Mehta
August 7, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
Scaling Renewable Energy – What’s Holding us Back?
India is doing well by global standards, but we’re not doing enough – we need to more than triple our current deployments just to meet 2030 targets.
Rahul Tongia
August 7, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
India’s Fiscal Transition Goals Through The Lens Of Union Budget 2024...
A roadmap for realising energy transition goals by examining the need for restructuring fossil taxes and subsidies in the present and subsequent Union Government budgets.
Rajat Verma
July 22, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Can Discoms Spark a Turnaround?
Gains have been asymmetric, with excess subsidy receipts and improved billing losses. But they aren’t sufficient. Discoms urgently need regulatory intervention, writes Rajasekhar Devaguptapu.
Rajasekhar Devaguptapu
July 20, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
From Analogue Roots to Digital Dreams
Explore India's transformative telecom journey, from humble beginnings to visionary policies and relentless innovations, as the nation strides toward a trillion-dollar digital economy.
Deepak Maheshwari
July 19, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
A Fine Balance: From Justice to Cost, the Many Competing Objectives of...
India’s per capita consumption is only a little over a third of the world average and, hence, as we strive to become a developed country by 2047, managing or electricity needs a key challenge.
Rahul Tongia
July 17, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
The Complexity of Green Transition
Inaction on generating new revenue as fossil fuel taxes dry up will harm India's economic prospects.
Laveesh Bhandari
July 1, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Critical Minerals Needed for India’s Energy Transition
India needs to meet its soaring demand for critical minerals in the clean energy transition, but how?
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
July 1, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Uttarakhand Forest Fires: Why Villagers Don’t Help the State in Risk...
The forest department has, in local expertise, a valuable asset. They must harness it even if to do so they have to reintroduce an incentive scheme.
Vikram Singh Mehta
July 1, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Climate Change: India’s Commitments
In the cover story of Pravasi Indians, Rajesh Chadha discusses the critical need to address climate change immediately.
Rajesh Chadha
June 28, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Cereals Under Climate Threat
Rising incidents of heatwaves are alarming scientists, while countries face declining wheat yields and output. Could India have been an exception?
Renu Kohli
June 20, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Interview | ‘If We Get Lithium From J&K, What Do We Do With It?’
Rajesh Chadha and Ganesh Sivamani discuss the critical minerals ecosystem, and the steps that India is taking to procure and protect these critical assets, in this StratNews interview.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
June 14, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Putting the Cart Before the Horse
While public policy can provide the requisite nudge for EV adoption, a poorly designed one like the ‘Delhi Motor Vehicle Aggregator and Delivery Service Provider Scheme, 2023’ (“Scheme”) can lead to suboptimal results at best and be counterproductive at worst.
Deepak Maheshwari
June 12, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Interview | India’s Climate Change
He discusses Fiscal Transition and its impacts in the Indian context using the indigenously developed Environmentally extended Social Accounting Matrix (E-SAM)
Rajat Verma
June 5, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Mobilising Climate Finance: Imperative of Carbon Pricing
Carbon pricing can be an effective tool not only for raising resources over the medium term for mitigation and adaptation, but also for decarbonising the Indian economy in a relatively more predictable manner.
Janak Raj
,
Valbha Shakya
&
kritima Bhapta
June 4, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Why the Old Script Can’t Work for India’s Green Transition
India’s energy sector is on a cusp. Fossil fuels will dominate it for decades more, but the overriding priority is to reduce its share. The next government’s challenge is to accelerate the latter against the backdrop of a polarised international geopolitical context and exponential technological innovation
Vikram Singh Mehta
June 3, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Going Green: Can the Global South Develop Without Fossil Fuel?
On this Doha Debates Podcast, Zaki Mamdoo and Rahul Tongia drill down on environmentalism, development and energy equity
Rahul Tongia
May 15, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Interview | Powering Up: Assessing Utility Preparedness to Meet the Summer...
There is relatively little that can be done in the short run – we cannot build new infrastructure instantly – but our real objective must be to avoid any crisis in the future: Rahul Tongia.
Rahul Tongia
May 13, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
PM Surya Ghar Scheme: Balance Consumer Equity with Discom Stability
Successful implementation of PM Surya Ghar Scheme hinges on ensuring its viability across diverse consumers and discoms through strategic tariff setting, support mechanism, and policy reforms.
Niteesh Shanbog
,
Sharath Rao
&
Rahul Tongia
May 10, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
The Clean Energy Transition has Become Messy
The war in the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine, and sanctions by the US have created a fragmented market in the petroleum industry. It is facing a set of challenges that may be the most complicated to date.
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 8, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
The Clean Energy Transition has Become Messy
The war in the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine, and sanctions by the US have created a fragmented market in the petroleum industry. It is facing a set of challenges that may be the most complicated to date.
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 8, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Overview of Climate-Economy and Energy System Models
Mathematical modelling programmes have become indispensable in climate science and policy research, their applications and accessibility need to be highlighted.
Rohit Reddy
,
Utkarsh Patel
&
Ridhi Purohit
April 30, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
What a Climate-Aligned IMF Would Look Like
In light of the IMF approving current Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva for another five-year term, Rakesh Mohan and Mohamed Nasheed share their insights.
Rakesh Mohan
April 19, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Do Electricity Distribution Franchisees Work? It’s High Time for a...
As the energy transition unfolds, the role of the discom is transforming.
Ashwini Chitnis
April 13, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Financial Sector & Development
Climate Change
Developing World Must Raise Own Climate Finance
Developed countries and MDBs can raise just a third of the requirement. Carbon pricing and ETS will have to play a bigger role.
Janak Raj
April 10, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Even Under Capitalism, There is Hope for Climate Change Solutions
Vikram Singh Mehta reviews the book book Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions by Akshat Rathi.
Vikram Singh Mehta
April 1, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
India’s Energy Transition
Laveesh Bhandari and Rajat Verma examine the fiscal implications that are to be borne in mind to arrive at equilibrium in the taxes.
Laveesh Bhandari
&
Rajat Verma
March 20, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Three’s not a Crowd for Improved Climate Action
Pooja Ramamurthi argue that partnerships with bridging powers are increasingly vital to unpicking North-South gridlocks and effective climate cooperation.
Pooja Ramamurthi
March 18, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Climate Change
This is What’s Slowing Down the Clean Energy Transition
With Big Oil's 2050 forecast that places oil and gas at the centre of energy basket, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve net-zero carbon emissions targets
Vikram Singh Mehta
March 4, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Interview | Fixing Taxi Fares, Bajaj CNG Bikes, Maruti Shares, Hot Money
How will CNG bikes change the two-wheeler industry if it succeeds? Shyamasis Das shares his insights.
Shyamasis Das
February 8, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
A Square Peg in a Round Hole
The regulation of state-owned discoms can create challenges. Upon getting conflicting directives from the government and the regulator, such entities prioritise the former’s orders.
Daljit Singh
January 22, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Interview | Does India Need a Climate Change Resilience Authority?
India is experiencing extreme weather conditions. Is it time for a climate change resilience authority?
Pooja Ramamurthi
January 4, 2024
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Was CoP-28 a Cop-out or Did the Conference Achieve Something?
CoP meetings have routinely talked of the need for a fair and just transition, consistent with the principles of "common but differentiated responsibilities" but they never discussed how to apply it in practice.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
December 18, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Foreign Policy & Strategy
Coal, Oil & Gas
How the Psychology of Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden and MBS is Driving Oil...
The dominant drivers of the crude oil market today are not the fundamentals of demand and supply, but the non-fundamentals, the psychology of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Joe Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Vikram Singh Mehta
December 2, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Foreign Policy & Strategy
Climate Change
Podcast | COP28: Spotlight On Indian Climate Diplomacy
In the last one decade, India has cast itself as being part of the climate solution—which in turn has created the space for diplomatic negotiations.
Constantino Xavier
November 30, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Foreign Policy & Strategy
Climate Change
Climate Diplomacy Must Begin at Home
It is now time to invest in a strategic capacity so that India's climate diplomacy is better equipped to transform prevailing climate commitments into action.
Constantino Xavier
&
Karthik Nachiappan
November 28, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
A Cap-and-Trade System will Help Slash Emissions More Efficiently
A key feature of a cap-and-trade system must be a steady reduction in allowances per unit of output over time, calibrated to the net-zero target, write Montek Singh Ahulwalia and Utkarsh Patel.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
&
Utkarsh Patel
November 6, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Foreign Policy & Strategy
Climate Change
India’s Global Climate Strategy
India’s progress in driving the need for climate mitigation and adaptation has been commendable and swift. A key question is whether results in terms of reduced carbon emissions will arrive.
Karthik Nachiappan
&
Constantino Xavier
November 6, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
Coal, Oil & Gas
Interview | Are Indian OEMs Shying Away from the Biofuel Push?
What prevents India's original equipment manufacturers (OEM) from transitioning to flex engines? Shyamasis Das discusses the challenges faced, including the high cost of flex engines.
Shyamasis Das
September 21, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Current Green Transition Solutions Disregard Social and Political...
Institutions have to be built that facilitate global cooperation, skill development and technology transfer and also enable the mediation of the domestic and international conflicts that have been inevitably aroused.
Vikram Singh Mehta
September 4, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Interview | How is India Balancing Minerals Exploration and...
Rajesh Chadha discusses critical minerals and its essential role in the manufacturing of green technology for India, in an exclusive conversation with India Stats.
Rajesh Chadha
August 21, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Interview | Is India’s plan to buy 10,000 electric buses enough?
Shyamasis Das discusses India’s plan to buy 10,000 electric buses on the Business Standard Morning Show.
Shyamasis Das
August 21, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Fiscal Governance and Architecture
Climate Change
Environment Policy Needs Federalism to Play a Big Role
How well central and state-level administrations coordinate climate action will determine key outcomes, writes Anoop Singh.
Anoop Singh
August 21, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
The Climate Crisis: What is the Global Way Out?
In the ‘era of global boiling’, challenge can only be met if we act in political, economic, financial concert, says Vikram Singh Mehta.
Vikram Singh Mehta
August 7, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
India Hits the Accelerator on Critical-Minerals Security
By joining the US-led Minerals Security Partnership and pursuing other collaborations, India has taken significant steps towards ensuring resilient supplies of critical minerals.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
July 24, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Incentivising Mineral Exploration
Rajesh Chadha, Ganesh Sivamani and Karthik Bansal provide recommendations that address the government’s concerns about only granting mineral concessions through auctions.
Rajesh Chadha
,
Ganesh Sivamani
&
Karthik Bansal
July 21, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
India Seeks to Secure its Green Growth Strategy by Identifying a List of...
In a conversation with Strait Times, Rajesh Chadha and Ganesh Sivamani highlights the importance of the Critical Minerals list by the government as an acknowledgement of how “skewed critical minerals supply chains will impact India’s green transition”, but adds that the government’s attention should now be ...
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
July 10, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
How Clearance Processes for Land Mining can be Sped Up
Complexity of the clearance procedures and huge delays in granting them have become impediments to efficient use of mineral resources, write Karthik Bansal and Ishita Kapoor.
Karthik Bansal
&
Ishita Kapoor
July 3, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
CSEP Research on Critical Minerals Cited in the Report by the Ministry of...
The Ministry of Mines released the first-ever list of critical minerals for India on June 28. The report referred to key findings from the CSEP Working Paper Critical Minerals for India 2023 authored by Rajesh Chadha, Ganesh Sivamani & Karthik Bansal.
Rajesh Chadha
,
Ganesh Sivamani
&
Karthik Bansal
June 30, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Foreign Policy & Strategy
India is Adapting to the Shifting Climate Terrain
India has a unique opportunity to use the G20 presidency to drive climate cooperation as crises abound and the desire for deep climate action is dwindling.
Karthik Nachiappan
&
Constantino Xavier
June 27, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Power Sector Needs a Regulatory Overhaul
Insufficient regulated tariffs are the dominant reasons for discom cash shortfalls. Fixing this is necessary and urgent says Rahul Tongia, Rajasekhar Devaguptapu and Nikhil Tyagi.
Rahul Tongia
,
Rajasekhar Devaguptapu
&
Nikhil Tyagi
June 19, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Interview | Govt Listens When Think Tanks Talk. They are Growing in Clout...
India's aspiration to become a global climate leader is getting a boost from an expanding ecosystem of homegrown policy and research institutes. Here are 10, new and old. | An interview with Laveesh Bhandari
Laveesh Bhandari
June 14, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Discom Gaps Need Urgent Systemic Fixes
Non-performance by discoms only explains a minority fraction of cumulative financial gaps of over ₹10L-crore — the real issues are more deep-rooted.
Rahul Tongia
,
Rajasekhar Devaguptapu
&
Nikhil Tyagi
June 12, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Mapping the Climate Transition by Identifying Policy Interventions
RBI’s report lays down a buffet of choices. Policymakers must now pick what is nutritious but also conforms to political taste.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
June 1, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
The IMF’s Turn to Lead on Climate
While the International Monetary Fund has made great strides on climate change in a short time, emerging markets and developing economies need resources to invest in resilience more urgently than ever.
Rakesh Mohan
June 1, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Coal, Oil & Gas
India has Big Clean Energy Goals – So Why is it Banking on Coal?
India's renewables targets, while ambitious, will still not be enough to meet rising power demand, comments Rahul Tongia.
Rahul Tongia
May 26, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Health and Human Development
Govt’s Increase in Health Expenditure a Welcome Step. But Indians are...
Analysing the GHE and OOPE data at national and state levels shows the need for deeper inquiry. The attribution of increased govt spending to declining out-of-pocket expenditure isn't apparent, write Alok Kumar Singh and Sandhya Venkateswaran.
Alok Kumar Singh
&
Sandhya Venkateswaran
May 19, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Podcast | Path to Climate Justice in a Net Zero World | ft. Tejal Kanitkar...
In this India Energy Hour podcast episode, Rahul Tongia discusses how we can design equitable models for climate action.
Rahul Tongia
May 16, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Does Nuclear Power have a Role in our Climate Change Strategy?
Yes, nuclear power has a role in climate change strategy, but we will have to rethink several aspects of our current policy on this form of energy before it can meet its promise.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
,
Utkarsh Patel
&
Rahul Tongia
May 4, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
Podcast | Should India Consider Phasing Out Nuclear Power?
There are questions on whether nuclear power, with its attendant concerns on cost and safety, remains a relevant option for a future that is fossil-free, particularly in India.
Rahul Tongia
April 28, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Experts Explain | What are the Challenges India Faces in Assuring...
A national critical minerals strategy for India, underpinned by the minerals can help focus on priority concerns in supply risks, domestic policy regimes, and sustainability.
Rajesh Chadha
,
Ganesh Sivamani
&
Karthik Bansal
April 22, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Interview | Growth Of Renewable Energy High In India, But Pace Not Enough
The lesson for us is that our supply system must be sufficient and flexible to allow such new technology to come in. And that raises another set of issues: Montek Singh Ahluwalia tells NDTV.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
April 19, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
India’s Fossil Fuel Lessons for Net Zero
As the transition to clean energy becomes imperative, India’s tryst with hydrocarbons can offer a roadmap of what not to do.
Vikram Singh Mehta
April 3, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Podcast | Critical Minerals in India
In this episode of South Asia Chat, Devyani Chaturvedi, Research Analyst, ISAS, is in conversation with Rajesh Chadha, Senior Fellow at CSEP about India’s critical mineral supply chain and its vulnerabilities and opportunities.
Rajesh Chadha
March 10, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
J&K lithium find: Celebrate with caution but further exploration...
The 5.9 million tonnes of lithium announced by Geological Survey of India are “inferred resources” at present. General and detailed exploration must follow, also roping in private mining expertise, if we are to see the lithium by 2030.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
March 7, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
Mine the gap: Reclaiming critical minerals from urban mines
Securing the supply chains of critical minerals will be imperative for India to meet its Aatma-Nirbhar Bharat goals and climate mitigation commitments.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
February 15, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Why Electricity Subsidies Need an Urgent Rethink
Who is deserving of a subsidy is difficult to answer, for this is a policy choice. However, we can benchmark policies by examining who gets how much subsidy.
Nikhil Tyagi
&
Rahul Tongia
February 13, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Price Cap, Energy Geo-Politics
US petroleum firms have benefited the most from sanctions on Russia. Europe has been pushed into a relationship of energy dependency with the US.
Vikram Singh Mehta
February 9, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Can Developing Economies Have High Growth Without Using Coal? A Debate.
Rahul Tongia and Jason Bordoff square off on a question that will confront emerging nations in the coming years.
Rahul Tongia
February 8, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Where’s the Capital for Climate?
At COP26, the PM set a clear target that India, with the help of global investment, will achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070. For this it will undertake actions such as greater use of renewable energy, reduced energy intensity, etc. It's a tough task, ...
Laveesh Bhandari
February 8, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
India’s Transition to Green Energy will have a Significant Impact on...
Another effect of the energy transition that needs to be considered is the impact on employment; in some states, a significant proportion of the people are engaged in coal mining. The effect on employment may not be severe but it will be challenging because it is ...
Aasheerwad Dwivedi
January 18, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
The Path to Decarbonisation in the Wake of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Against this international backdrop, India must pivot the needle of its energy compass towards short-term energy security and long-term decarbonisation. Irrespective of who is to blame for global warming, India cannot afford to develop first and clean up later.
Vikram Singh Mehta
January 2, 2023
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Four Steps to Make India’s Energy Transition Less Painful
India must make a fiscal transition alongside the energy transition. Here's how it could make a start.
Aasheerwad Dwivedi
December 16, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
COP27: Joining the dots between Binsar and Sharm El-Sheikh
To resolve the environment-development conflict, begin with local initiatives that can be scaled-up and provided market access through support of government and collaborative linkages with corporates, NGOs and specialists, writes Vikram Singh Mehta.
Vikram Singh Mehta
December 6, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Was COP27 a Cop-Out?
The loss-and-damage fund is welcome but other vital issues were left hanging. India’s G20 presidency may help us find clarity.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
&
Utkarsh Patel
November 22, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Podcast | Are Current Climate Initiatives Unfair to Developing Nations?
Rahul Tongia speaks to Kai Ryssdal of NPR Marketplace about how current climate initiatives are unfair towards developing nations.
Rahul Tongia
November 17, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Green Cess Needs a Makeover
A graded form of an ecological tax must be levied on the value of outputs of sectors that are polluting, write Rajat Verma and Ganesh Sivamani.
Rajat Verma
&
Ganesh Sivamani
November 9, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Critical Minerals Needed for India’s Green Transition
Securing the critical minerals required for manufacturing green technologies must become an urgent priority, or else India – and the rest of the world – risks falling short of its climate change mitigation targets.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
November 2, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Nature Contributes to Economic Prosperity and Well-Being
Experts emphasize that while a statistic such as GDP does a good job of showing the value of goods and services exchanged in markets, it does not reflect the dependency of the economy on nature, nor its impacts on nature, such as the deterioration of water ...
Ramu Damodaran
October 19, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022: Three Features that Will be Very...
The many challenges facing electricity distribution certainly need attention. But focusing on multiple discoms in an area, particularly when an alternative for providing choice exists, may distract from more fundamental issues. And it could create more problems.
Daljit Singh
October 11, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Future of Energy
Natural Gas: The Bridge on India’s Path to Energy Atmanirbharta
India has a long way to go before it can fully wean itself off fossil fuels. During this transitional phase, gas producers should be granted unfettered marketing and pricing freedom.
Vikram Singh Mehta
October 3, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Why India Needs to Secure its Critical Minerals Supply Chains
Rajesh Chadha and Ganesh Sivamani reflect on India's critical minerals supply chain and the risks associated with not securing mineral needs.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
September 12, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
India needs climate action targets for next 10 years
A 10-year-plan will help increase public consciousness and generate a public debate on aspects of the strategy that may seem contentious, write Montek S Ahluwalia and Utkarsh Patel in Mint
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
&
Utkarsh Patel
September 9, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
The Road to Energy Atmanirbharta
Leadership to balance short-term pressures of elections with longer-term imperatives of sustainability is needed, writes Vikram Singh Mehta.
Vikram Singh Mehta
September 5, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Coal, Oil & Gas
For Energy, it’s not RE vs Coal – Adopt a Portfolio Approach
India is undergoing an energy transition, but it must not write off coal. The most cost-effective way to balance the grid in 2030 will be to keep both thermal power and renewables in the basket of options.
Rahul Tongia
August 30, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
How Indian Minerals and Metals Fare in Trade and FDI
How do Indian minerals and metals fare in trade and FDI? Rajesh Chadha and Ishita Kapoor explain.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ishita Kapoor
July 28, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
After Ukraine, the New Energy Disorder
Vikram Singh Mehta writes: Ukraine war has disrupted old energy order. We cannot afford to continue with our existing siloed approach
Vikram Singh Mehta
July 4, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Electricity
Policy Revamps that Will Help Scale Storage Technologies
The key need for improving storage is innovation, which is not just a technical issue but extends to business models and regulatory frameworks. While there is a need to scale up production, we should also revamp how we integrate and plan for storage, writes Rahul Tongia. ...
Rahul Tongia
June 6, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Foreign Policy & Strategy
The Ukraine Conflict has Raked up Old Dilemmas
Vikram S Mehta writes: Issues related to energy security, climate change mitigation have been brought to the forefront.
Vikram Singh Mehta
June 6, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Climate Change
जलवायु बिगड़ने के साथ भारत का...
भारत में जलवायु परिवर्तन के कारण हो रही घटनाओं को अब ‘अप्रत्याशित’ नहीं कहा जा सकता है इसलिए सरकार को उनके लिए वैकल्पिक तरीकों के साथ तैयार होना पड़ेगा.
Daljit Singh
May 31, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Climate Change
Power Sector must Brace for Trouble as Climate Worsens
India can no longer label extreme climate events as ‘unforeseeable’. The Union govt must prepare for them with alternate approaches.
Daljit Singh
May 27, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Give Coal the Attention and Effort that it Needs
The fundamental issue remains woefully short stockpiles. With a recent increase in the domestic demand, and high global prices, the key is to address crucial issues of planning, feedback (or lack thereof), and risk, says Rahul Tongia.
Rahul Tongia
May 5, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Coping with Fiscal Effects of Energy Transition
CSEP scholars Laveesh Bhandari and Asheerwad Dwivedi analyse how governments’ (both Centre and State) revenue from coal, oil and natural gas, will be affected over the next two decades as India shifts toward renewable energy sources.
Laveesh Bhandari
&
Aasheerwad Dwivedi
April 18, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
“It is Pragmatic, Morally Defensible for India to Buy Crude Oil from...
It is the same energy security imperative that drove Europe’s decision to continue buying crude from Russia, says Vikram Mehta.
Vikram Singh Mehta
April 4, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
District Mineral Foundation Funds and Welfare of the Mine-affected...
Under PMKKKY, 60 per cent of the DMF fund has been allocated to high priority areas such as drinking water supply, environment preservation and pollution control, health care, education, women and child welfare, the welfare of aged and disabled people, skill development and sanitation.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ishita Kapoor
April 4, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Global Fuel Price Rise and How Should India Navigate The Oil Crisis |...
In an interview with India Today, Vikram Mehta shares his perspective on how India should navigate the oil crisis as prices continue to rise globally.
Vikram Singh Mehta
March 25, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Russia’s Ukraine Invasion; India Impact Of A ‘New Energy World...
In an interview with Strat News Global, Vikram Singh Mehta assesses the impact on India of gas, oil and financial sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine, fuel prices, the repercussions on India and Russia’s energy assets in each other’s countries, and many more.
Vikram Singh Mehta
March 16, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
How to handle impact of Ukrainian crisis on India’s energy sector
To deal with energy volatility, India must build reserves, revive conversations on pipeline with Iran, Turkmenistan
Vikram Singh Mehta
March 10, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
India Must Act on Mining and Exploration of Critical Minerals for Green...
in 2015, India announced its Nationally Determined Contributions, including reducing its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) emission intensity by 33-35% in 2030 from 2005 levels. This commitment has been revised to a 45% reduction during COP26. Critical minerals shall play an important role to achieve these goals.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
February 24, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Time to Rationalise Fuel Taxes
The delayed feedback from wholesale inflation to retail inflation is also reflected in the household inflation expectations survey of the RBI.
Abhishek Kumar
February 11, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
We Need Wardens in Our Eco Parks
Take the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It is assigned the task of monitoring air and water quality, and to also check commercial or industrial units that may pollute them. It is also allocated the task of supporting State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), which carry out ...
Laveesh Bhandari
February 4, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Preparing for a Green Energy Shift in 2022
The ‘irresistible force’ for clean energy has met the ‘immovable object’ of an embedded fossil fuel energy system. How can policies reconcile this paradox?
Vikram Singh Mehta
January 4, 2022
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Wanted: New leaders to tackle climate change challenge
COP 27 should be led by a collective of experts, who can accelerate the implementation of the action plan towards Net Zero, says Vikram Singh Mehta.
Vikram Singh Mehta
December 13, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Carbon Tracker
India Needs a Coordinated Approach for Decarbonisation of Economy
Long-term planning process must be changed and an autonomous, credible agency must provide independent advice, monitor progress.
Daljit Singh
November 17, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Does the Glasgow Pact Make Climate Finance Available to Us?
We must push hard for funds at next year’s CoP and do what’s possible at home to enhance flows of capital into green projects.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
&
Utkarsh Patel
November 16, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
The Glasgow Summit on Climate Change: What Has it Achieved?
A promising start on emissions reduction, but big emitters must do more and India needs to work out a detailed plan of action.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
&
Utkarsh Patel
November 15, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
Why India needs a Ministry of Energy
It would not alter the existing roles and responsibilities of the various ministries that oversee petroleum, coal, renewables and power, but would identify and handle all of the issues that currently fall between the cracks created by the existing structure.
Vikram Singh Mehta
November 12, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Net Zero: Pledges Are Not Enough
There are several problems with the so-called 'carbon neutrality' pledges. These can only be understood properly if they are accompanied by details and given tight accounting norms.
Rahul Tongia
November 12, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Net Zero Carbon Pledges Have Good Intentions. But They are Not Enough.
Reaching zero is important, but there is no universal consensus on when the date of net zero should be. The “sooner the better” remains a common refrain.
Rahul Tongia
October 28, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Ahead of CoP 26 Meet: A Negotiation Strategy
The right approach is for each country to focus not on the net zero date but to indicate its emissions reduction trajectory consistent with its development imperatives.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
&
Utkarsh Patel
October 28, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Climate Change
The Inside Story of India’s Coal and Power Crises
Simple arithmetic will show that power plants consumed more coal than they received, but given that generation wasn’t exceptionally high, does this mean the problem was supply?
Rahul Tongia
October 26, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
A Green Response to Natural Gas Price Shock
The price surge must be leveraged to improve energy efficiency, intensify demand conservation and intervene to prevent the switch to coal, among other measures.
Vikram Singh Mehta
October 5, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
How Fair is India’s Non-fuel Mine Auction Process?
Rajesh Chadha and Ganesh Sivamani discuss challenges to the mining sector and recommend a thorough relook at the auctions regime.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
September 14, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Challenges For Natural Gas to Become India’s Bridge Fuel
Rahul Tongia examines the relevance of natural gas both through the lens of competitive economic viability as well as other impacts.
Rahul Tongia
September 6, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
India Can Grow and Cut Emissions at the Same Time
Montek Singh Ahluwalia unpacks the strategy policymakers could adopt for India's decarbonisation.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
August 13, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Can we Offer a Credible Strategy for the Reduction of Emissions?
Let’s present CoP-26 a carbon-reduction strategy that includes adequate access to finance, writes Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
August 12, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Carbon Tracker
Unpacking the Strategy Policymakers Could Adopt for India’s...
Montek Singh Ahluwalia unpacks the strategy policymakers could adopt for India's decarbonisation.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
August 12, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Book Review | Betting on natural gas as a ‘clean’ fossil fuel
Bibek Bhattacharya reviews The Next Stop for Mint, focusing on natural gas' role in India's decarbonisation and its limitations
Vikram Singh Mehta
August 10, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
The agenda for Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri
Hardeep Singh Puri should not see his responsibility through the siloed prism of oil and natural gas, Vikram Singh Mehta writes.
Vikram Singh Mehta
August 4, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
The agenda for Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri
Vikram Singh Mehta
August 3, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Challenges for natural gas to become India’s bridge fuel
Rahul Tongia examines the possibilities for natural gas in India’s energy mix.
Rahul Tongia
July 15, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
The great leap to clean energy
Vivek Rae reviews The Next Stop: Natural Gas and India's Journey to a Clean Energy Future.
Vikram Singh Mehta
July 15, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Check green damage: India needs to strengthen environmental assessments
Comprehensive Environment Impact Assessments (EIA) are essential to determine the project’s benefits and externalities
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
July 9, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Can natural gas be a ‘bridge’ fuel in India’s energy transition?
India’s focus for natural gas should be where it displaces coal, especially 'dirty', inefficient coal
Rahul Tongia
July 8, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
Interview: Why India needs natural gas for a clean energy future
Vikram Singh Mehta
June 24, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
What will be the impact of scrappage policy on India’s EV market?
India’s vehicle scrappage policy introduced in the 2021 budget session aims at replacing end-of-life vehicles (ELV).
Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan
&
Sukhmani Kaur Toor
June 16, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
‘India needs one institutional mechanism for bringing all the bodies...
We also need reforms related to pricing, taxation, development of infrastructure, relationship between the Centre and state governments, and R&D, says Vikram Singh Mehta.
Vikram Singh Mehta
June 6, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Book Review | The Next Stop: Why gas is not just hot air
The Next Stop is a "rich and insightful" book where 38 industry insiders with experience in natural gas band together, says review
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 31, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Coal, Oil & Gas
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
Opinion & Commentary
India’s road to clean energy goes via natural gas
Decarbonisation is the endgame, but India must first ‘green’ its fossil fuel energy basket by increasing the share of natural gas
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 5, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Mineral auctions: How fair is the game?
India has a great mineral potential yet to be explored and large mineral-bearing land available for mining. However, the allocation of national resources has been a challenging exercise.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
April 22, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
A low-carbon future through sector-led change
In India, a sector-led, action-based approach could provide the framework to drive low-carbon transformation.
Ashok Sreenivas
,
Navroz K Dubash
&
Rahul Tongia
April 21, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
Opinion & Commentary
In the climate battle, focus on the high-emitters
Rahul Tongia
April 21, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
The Next Stop | How is natural gas pricing done in India?
A new book edited by Vikram Singh Mehta looks at different aspects of natural gas use in India, including policy changes and reforms in pricing.
Vikram Singh Mehta
April 15, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
New electricity consumer rules: Reading the impact on ‘rooftop solar’...
The older regime benefited just a handful. The new rules should spur a conversation on equitable and sustainable pricing frameworks
Rahul Tongia
April 12, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Is natural gas India’s best choice for moving away from coal and fossil...
An excerpt from ‘The Next Stop: Natural Gas and India’s Journey to a Clean Energy Future’, edited by Vikram Singh Mehta.
Vikram Singh Mehta
April 9, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Why India needs a plan for climate talks
Irrespective of the direction in which climate talks move, India must announce a national target for phasing down coal-based generation of electricity.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
&
Utkarsh Patel
April 6, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
GV Ramakrishna: A steward of petroleum
The former petroleum secretary, who passed away two weeks ago, placed oil and gas exploration in India on a sure footing, writes Vikram Singh Mehta.
Vikram Singh Mehta
April 5, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Need for caution in delicensing distribution
It would be better to focus on developing effective wholesale electricity markets, which, in turn, require well-functioning fuel markets.
Daljit Singh
March 10, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Bolstering the ongoing mining reforms
Transparency apart, the auctions must provide enough revenues for the exchequer and incentives to industry.
Rajesh Chadha
&
Ganesh Sivamani
March 4, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
Road to decarbonisation: Govts must remove obstacles of poorly designed...
Decarbonisation has become a buzzword. To ensure it does not remain just that but translates into effective action on the ground, policymakers will have to build structures that reflect the woven, multidimensional, interdependent and interconnected nature of the energy ecosystem.
Vikram Singh Mehta
March 2, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
New electricity consumer rules: Reading the impact on ‘rooftop solar’...
The older regime benefited just a handful. The new rules should spur a conversation on equitable and sustainable pricing frameworks
Rahul Tongia
February 25, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Enhancing competition in India’s power sector
Fixing Discoms is a pressing need, but it’s worth investing time in figuring out the details, including expected winners and losers, and possibilities for gaming.
Rahul Tongia
February 17, 2021
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
A new map for the end of Oil Age: Technology is answer to energy...
How should India, an economy dependent on fossil fuels, navigate future energy transitions? A new book has some pointers.
Vikram Singh Mehta
December 8, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Interview | Coal insigts: From mining to igniting
Rahul Tongia
December 4, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Coal power plants need an integrated approach
The three issues — retirement, pollution control, and making plants flexible — are inter-related. They need to be addressed in an integrated fashion by distribution companies.
Daljit Singh
&
Rahul Tongia
December 4, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Book review: Climate change and the transfer of power
Laveesh Bhandari
December 1, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
India’s DisCom stress is more than the sum of its past
There must be an overhaul of the regulation of electricity firms and their deliverables using common sense metrics
Rajasekhar Devaguptapu
&
Rahul Tongia
October 29, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Lessons from COVID-19
Vikram Singh Mehta
October 6, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Coal is not going away anytime soon. Let’s clean it up instead of...
Rahul Tongia
September 12, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
In a post-COVID-19 world, we will need a mindset of preparedness to deal...
Vikram Singh Mehta
June 1, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
How COVID-19 might impact India’s renewable energy transition
India, like other countries, had an ongoing energy transition, but the question becomes will COVID-19 create a pause or a shift in the trajectories? Or, will it induce radical change? No one can know for sure, in part because we don’t know what the “new normal” ...
Rahul Tongia
May 20, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Podcast: Oil’s not well – How the drastic fall in prices will...
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 7, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
It’s the death knell for the oil industry’: Vikram Singh Mehta...
Vikram Singh Mehta
April 28, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Oil in a post-Covid world
Vikram Singh Mehta
April 22, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
What if I told you that rural areas cross-subsidise urban areas for...
Rahul Tongia
February 14, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Opinion & Commentary
Coal mining in India: Enter, the private sector
Rahul Tongia
January 20, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
How to hasten the energy transition in the developing world
Rahul Tongia
January 17, 2020
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
What can new govt do to energise India?
Vikram Singh Mehta
June 3, 2019
Opinion & Commentary
Access & Social Contract
100% electrification: Assessing ground reality
The past five years have seen a significant flux in India’s electricity sector. A number of policies have been adopted that have fundamentally transformed the sector. On the upstream side, renewable energy is not a pipe-dream with the sector seeing the fastest growth amongst all other ...
Swati Mitchelle Dsouza
April 2, 2019
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Some steps towards escalating the ambition on Universal Electricity Access
Whether full household electrification is achieved by March 2019 or later, India’s efforts at electrifying its rural population since the turn of the millennium have received universal recognition. However, several observers have noted that the presence of requisite infrastructure in a village to officially deem it ...
Sahil Ali
April 2, 2019
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
India needs to change the thermal power story to survival of the fittest,...
The proposals for solving the current stranded capacity crisis should start a process of big picture thinking to achieve better collective outcomes on multiple long-term objectives. Doing so requires some decisive changes to the status-quo. How we got here: The chronic factors behind recent woes Contrast ...
Sahil Ali
March 19, 2019
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Global warming: Indian leaders can learn from Ocasio-Cortez how to push a...
Vikram Singh Mehta
March 6, 2019
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Can natural gas be a catalyst to build a lower-carbon world?
The short answer to the question is yes; natural gas can be and has already become a catalyst in some countries, which are transitioning to a low-carbon economy. The more important question though is can this model be replicated in other countries with gas as a ...
Swati Mitchelle Dsouza
February 6, 2019
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Is the planet headed for a climate-induced catastrophe?
Vikram Singh Mehta
January 7, 2019
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
India’s Petroleum minister has to achieve oil supply security and...
Vikram Singh Mehta
November 8, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Minerals & Mining
Exploring a nation’s natural wealth
Rahul Tongia
&
Peter Nichols
October 11, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Scaling renewable energy in India
Rahul Tongia
August 1, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
India’s renewable energy targets in context: Ambitious yet the new...
Rahul Tongia
June 4, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Making ash disappear
Sahil Ali
May 28, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
With ambitious renewable energy targets, India on track for Paris
Rahul Tongia
May 23, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Why the Indian government must not ask public sector outfits to bear...
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 7, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
What will fuel India’s electric vehicles?
Rahul Tongia
February 19, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
Budget 2018: Does the absence of energy from the finance minister’s...
I did not participate in the post-budget reflections on TV. I declined all invitations, in part, because it was not a novelty and in part because I knew that I would spend most of the time staring at the camera, mute and captive. I also declined ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
February 5, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
India does not have the luxury to develop now and “clean up”...
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 ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
January 1, 2018
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
An uncertain energy future
The government faces a renewable energy trilemma. It has set itself a target of quadrupling the generation capacity of solar energy by 2022 and shifting the production of new automotive vehicles from the internal combustion model to electric vehicles (EV) by 2030. In parallel, it wants ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
December 3, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Access & Social Contract
Can the Saubhagya scheme work?
The government’s recently announced 100 per cent household electrification scheme, Saubhagya, aims to tackle the next link for electrification, where until now most efforts focused at the village or hamlet level. The good news is that most villages are now connected to the grid, and remote ...
Rahul Tongia
October 31, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Geopolitical implications of a Russian acquisition
Vikram Singh Mehta
October 3, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Access & Social Contract
Saubhagya programme: The next bold step for electrification – necessary...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a new scheme called Saubhagya to ensure electrification of all willing households in the country in rural as well as urban areas by 2019. The focus is on last mile connectivity and poor households would be provided electricity connections free of cost. ...
Rahul Tongia
September 29, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Challenges ahead for clean energy
Who doesn’t want clean or ‘green’ energy? But what if this costs a bit more? We might quickly find many people’s appetite for renewable energy (RE) is lower, especially if the worry cited is something as invisible, long-term, and global as CO2 emissions that impact climate ...
Rahul Tongia
September 29, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Energy needs inspiration
Vikram Singh Mehta
September 4, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
Is the draft national energy policy for India actionable?
One cannot envy the task given to the NITI Aayog to produce a National Energy Policy (NEP). Almost all projections for future energy needs, worldwide, have not panned out, as this space is very dynamic and assumption-driven. The erstwhile Planning Commission did focus on broad energy ...
Rahul Tongia
&
Sahil Ali
August 22, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
A patchy green – energy policy in India
Arvind Panagariya did not list the “draft national energy policy”, prepared by the Niti Aayog and circulated for comment on June 27, as one of the important achievements of his tenure as Deputy Chairman in the various interviews that I read, on the day he announced ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
August 7, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
An energy warning and lessons
There is clarity and purpose in the management of our energy policy. Oil policy has been well defined and while it is difficult to attract private capital into exploration in today’s low oil price environment, there is no uncertainty regarding the government’s intent. The fiscal and ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
July 3, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Making a smart energy grid work for India
Newspapers are showcasing the dramatically lower costs of solar power, reportedly cheaper than coal power now, and we are told that smart grids (and smart cities) are just around the corner. While enormous strides have been made in making these solutions both available and cheaper, we ...
Rahul Tongia
June 29, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Clean energy can cement Indo-US ties
When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington, US President Donald Trump and he will find numerous areas of disagreement. High on that list will be climate change. Early this month, Trump put a stick in the eye of the world by announcing that he will ...
Rahul Tongia
June 21, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
The future of electric vehicles in India
Rahul Tongia
May 12, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
Opinion & Commentary
Why is today’s oil market, a ‘no mans’ land?
The oil market has never been easy to call but these days it appears to be in “no man’s” land. Why is that the case? A few weeks back American Tomahawk missiles took out a Syrian airfield. The price of the North Sea Brent crude jumped ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 1, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Delhi’s inefficient electricity subsidies
Who doesn’t like discounts or freebies, especially from the government? Subsidies aren’t inherently wrong they can help keep goods and services affordable, and encourage “good” things like education. The challenge is making them efficient and focused, so that they help the poor and deserving the most. ...
Rahul Tongia
April 17, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
No such thing as a perfect renewable energy contract
India’s 175 GW renewable energy (RE) targets by 2022 are ambitious, to say the least. Compared to RE targets in Europe, China, or California that require 4-5% growth in RE capacity annually, Indian targets require 25% growth. This translates to enormous capital investment (well over $100 ...
Rahul Tongia
February 20, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
2016, the year of inflexion for the oil industry?
India hasn’t yet joined the global move towards clean energy. But for how long can it hold out? A large part of my working life was spent with the Shell Group and I accumulated shares in the company. Last year, I decided to reduce my holdings ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
February 6, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
Data management: India needs agency for energy data
India has no central body for maintaining and disseminating energy data, let alone analysing it. We propose the creation of a national Energy Information Agency to replace the current patchwork of systems. This would collect, standardize and analyse data across energy domains and make it publicly ...
Rahul Tongia
January 6, 2017
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
How India can meet its ambitious renewable energy targets
A systemic approach that focuses on enabling the environment for more renewable energy will help India to meet its target of generating 175 gigawatts of energy by 2021. At the recently concluded Marrakesh Conference, most countries stood by their commitments made in Paris at COP21 for ...
Rahul Tongia
December 27, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
The life and death of the oil age
Vikram Singh Mehta
October 3, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Electricity
Future of Energy
Save me, technology; for I have (energy) sinned
Many things demand a balance, energy being one of them. Electricity, in fact, must always be in balance as grid power cannot easily be stored. Unfortunately, in recent times the emphasis has shifted from reducing the demand of power in India through efficiency to increasing its ...
Rahul Tongia
September 6, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Political shortsightedness, pricing issues keep India from becoming...
Vikram Singh Mehta
September 5, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
“Govt’s ambitious power capacity target may lead to huge...
The Economic Times on our latest IMPACT Series paper, ‘India’s Updated (2016) Renewable Energy “Guidelines”: Bold targets, but can we meet them?’. Download the paper here. The article says, “The numbers for renewable energy, coal-fired capacity and power demand don’t quite add up upon triangulation. The targeted ...
Rahul Tongia
August 29, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
India’s Updated (2016) Renewable Energy “Guidelines”:...
The government has announced a number of targets and support mechanisms for renewable energy (RE). Almost two years ago, the central government announced plans to grow to 175 GW of RE capacity by 2022, more than a five-fold growth in just seven years. RE has since ...
Rahul Tongia
August 23, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
How India reformed its petroleum sector
Political compulsions ensured that the process was done slowly, steadily and stealthily Indian newspapers have carried a series of interesting recollections by bureaucrats and technocrats of their involvement in the economic reform programme of 1991. None talked about the energy sector and, in particular, petroleum. This ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
August 1, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Think you’re being eco-friendly by using cloth bags? Think again
The most important factor for cloth bags to actually be “eco-friendly”: reuse 171 times. That’s how many times one reportedly has to reuse a cloth bag to justify the extra energy consumed for its manufacture compared to a disposable plastic bag. While the exact number may ...
Rahul Tongia
August 1, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Is the struggle between China and India a struggle to secure their energy...
India will need to import the bulk of its fuel for this decade and the next. In another four years, India is expected to become the world’s largest coal importer, overtaking Japan, the European Union and China. The Chinese attempts to dominate the South China Sea is, ...
Rahul Tongia
July 13, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
India has done little to bridge energy supply-demand gap
India has done very little in the last few decades by way of harmonizing its governance structures to secure its energy needs despite a surging demand to fuel its growing economy, and the crisis may worsen in the coming years, Brookings India chairman Vikram Singh Mehta ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
June 27, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
A game changer: Electricity feeder monitoring
The Government of India is proposing a bold and major scheme for monitoring, visualizing, and analyzing feeder level power supply across the nation, monitoring all the 11kV distribution feeders. In conjunction, a parallel scheme, Urja-Mitra, aims to notify consumers of outages, via SMS and online apps. ...
Rahul Tongia
June 9, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
India-US relations: Energy and environment
The energy market has undergone a major structural change since 2015. The most dramatic manifestations of this change are Saudi Arabia’s decision to forego the role of “swing producer,” the consequential drop in the price of oil, and the recent pronouncement in Saudi Arabia’s “Vision 2030″to ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
June 4, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Sustainable development goals must be linked to energy and environment
Niti Aayog needs a sharp focus on weakening the link between energy demand and environmental degradation writes Vikram Mehta Niti Aayog has placed on the internet a 25-slide presentation entitled “Creating a movement for change”. It has set out a thematic roadmap for quintupling the GDP ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 2, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Welcome HELP to India’s hydrocarbon exploration
Vikram Singh Mehta
April 6, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
A developing country’s perspective of the Smart Grid
Rahul Tongia
March 21, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Planning for Accelerating Smart Meter and Smart Grid Rollouts in India
The Electricity Policy has taken a bold move to kick-start Smart Meters in India. This discussion note discusses roll-out the options. Many HT consumers are already on digital metering, that too with downloading of data (even if via a handheld instrument). Making such users’ metering “smart” ...
Rahul Tongia
March 10, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Budget fails to lay out a clear roadmap for petroleum industry
Petroleum industry is in terrible shape. Brookings India chairman and former CEO of Shell Vikram S Mehta details what the Finance Minister can do to put it back on track. I am one of the quick-fire commentators who complimented the finance minister on budget day for both ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
March 7, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
Budget 2016: Reduce & refocus power & diesel subsidies
Brookings India Fellow Dr. Rahul Tongia’s energy wishlist for Budget 2016 may be difficult to pull off in a single budget, it gives a pathway to energy sustainability There’s a budget around the corner, and energy scholars/economists/etc. all have a number of wishes they hope can ...
Rahul Tongia
February 23, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
“Withdrawal of sanctions on Iran a huge opportunity for India to...
Watch Vikram S Mehta on Macros with Mythili on ET Now. There’s been a dramatic collapse in the price of crude oil in recent weeks. Price of the Indian basket has more than halved since the Modi government took over in May 2014 – from 108 ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
February 5, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Please, cut down that tree: A solution to urban chaos
Rahul Tongia
January 5, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
End of the oil age
Oil will diminish in significance in a reconfigured energy system. Decades hence, 2015 might well be seen as the year the oil era entered the phase of terminal decline. For during this period, there was a convergence of action and sentiment against oil products and oil companies. ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
January 4, 2016
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Interview | India warns country’s coal consumption to double in...
Rahul Tongia, Fellow, Energy and Environment in an interview with James Bennett, AM, ABC News, Friday December 18, on India’s coal consumption in the coming years. KIM LANDERS: As celebrations subside following the Paris climate accord, the world’s third-biggest emitter India is warning its coal consumption ...
Rahul Tongia
December 18, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
India and Climate Change – Spoilsport or just late to the party?
India may have been late to the emissions party, but with innovation and rapid development, it can make a disproportionate contribution to emissions reduction. India’s carbon reduction pledges (the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs) have been labelled as medium or even weak by many global ...
Rahul Tongia
December 9, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
Delhi’s bar on cars: Using a sword instead of a scalpel for surgery
Enough has been written (mostly against) the idea to limit cars in Delhi, by license plate. Will it work? Can you enforce it? Will it lead to more sales of alternate number of cars? And, most importantly, are alternatives such as public transport ready, especially considering ...
Rahul Tongia
December 8, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Initiatives needed from India to reduce the import of oil
Recently, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan spoke at the release of the IEA’s India Energy Outlook about cutting down of the country’s import dependence for domestic energy needs by 10 per cent by 2020-21. How can this be done? There are three initiatives that the government needs ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
December 8, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Any progress on climate change will depend on innovation and global...
The climate-change relevant question is, how will the continuing compounded advance of technology impact the energy sector? How do we square this circle? On the one hand, the world has come together to tackle the threat of global warming. More than 150 countries have set out ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
December 7, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Will India accept legally binding agreements at COP21?
As world leaders gather for the global COP21 climate negotiations. Many may feel it is now or never. But the question remains, who is supposed to contribute how much toward emissions reductions? India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) submission has targeted a measurable (33-35 percent) improvement ...
Rahul Tongia
December 3, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Will oil remain the bulwark of global energy system in the long-term?
“The Future of Oil” is headed towards an interesting crossroad. The pathway will not be signposted; there will be many twists and turns. Oil is headed towards a future in which it will lose its pre-eminence in the energy landscape. Key Highlights: Over the next five ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
November 26, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Average rural consumer ends up subsidizing power for urban residents
An article in the Scientific American quotes Brookings India Fellow Rahul Tongia’s research. Rural homes regularly experience rolling blackouts during times of peak demand as utilities move available power to commercial operations and energy-hungry cities. That means the average rural consumer ends up subsidizing power for ...
Rahul Tongia
October 20, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Cleaning coal instead of wishing it away
The World Bank recently announced that short of exceptional circumstances, they would no longer fund coal in developing regions. The U.S. and other nations are also contemplating, if not making, similar choices, driven in part by concerns about climate change. This view may be impractical, if ...
Rahul Tongia
September 10, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
The slump, the opportunity
Vikram Singh Mehta
September 7, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Future of Energy
Smart is as smart does
A few years ago, smart grids were all the rage Amitabh Bachchan was even on the cover of a business magazine in 2010 with a Smart Meter, and was dubbed “Power Genie”. Given, however, the low percentage of Smart Meter rollouts across homes, we have to ...
Rahul Tongia
August 5, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Access & Social Contract
Shaping India’s energy future: Ambitions, actions and obstacles
Multi-domain, multi-scale, and multi-stakeholder efforts are needed to overcome the combination of acute and chronic challenges facing India’s energy future. Analogies aren’t perfect, but a number from the healthcare domain could apply to energy. Doctors often characterize diseases or conditions as acute or chronic – energy ...
Rahul Tongia
May 19, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
A new energy
A year ago, I was requested to make recommendations on a 100-day action plan on energy for the new government. In response, I offered the following suggestions, which I hoped might define the roadmap for the following year. Steps should be taken to institutionalise the formulation ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 4, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Renewable Energy & Clean Tech
Brightening the future with the sun and wind
India received commitments for over 260,000 MW of renewable energy during RE-Invest. While this is a great supply-side achievement, there are several issues in terms of handling this, and implications for the grid, both technically and financially. The Renewable Energy (RE) Global Investor’s Meet inaugurated by ...
Rahul Tongia
February 18, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
The Green Budget
This column first appeared in the Indian Express, on February 2, 2015. Like other products of the Brookings Institution India Center, this is intended to contribute to discussion and stimulate debate on important issues. The views are those of the author. In the aftermath of the Republic Day India-US ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
February 3, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Over the Barrel: Oilpolitik
This column first appeared in the Indian Express, on January 5, 2015. Like other products of the Brookings Institution India Center, this is intended to contribute to discussion and stimulate debate on important issues. The views are those of the author. A frequently asked but futile question is: Where ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
January 5, 2015
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
Opinion & Commentary
Over the barrel: On oil, let’s play the ‘what-if’ game
This column first appeared in Indian Express, on November 3, 2014. Like other products of the Brookings Institution India Center, this is intended to contribute to discussion and stimulate debate on important issues. The views are those of the author. Now is the time for the government to ask ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
November 10, 2014
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Electrified, but without electricity
No one would believe that simply owning a smartphone would be enough to go online and get connected one would still need a data connection for that to happen. Similarly, it is time that we added a similar level of service to define electrification, a focus ...
Rahul Tongia
October 7, 2014
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
A story of the clean energy fund
The finance minister announced in his budget speech that he would enhance the resources of the “clean energy fund” by doubling the cess on coal production from Rs 50 per tonne to Rs 100 per tonne. This fund was set up in 2000 to incubate, encourage ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
August 5, 2014
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
Getting down to the energy business
This may be the right political moment to resolve the dilemmas surrounding the energy policy. Energy sits at the nub of every politician’s deepest dilemma. How to meet the demands of the electorate for affordable and reliable fuel without pushing government finances into a deep hole? ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
June 6, 2014
Opinion & Commentary
Energy, Natural Resources & Sustainability
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
Create department of energy in PMO
The new PM should pave the way for the introduction of a bill that lays out the road map for energy independence,security and sustainability The new prime minister should immediately give a speech on energy. It should emphasise the criticality of the energy crisis and articulate ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
May 23, 2014
Opinion & Commentary
Electricity
Time of day electricity pricing: From utilities to consumers
What is the value of saving one unit (or kilowatt-hour, kWh) of electricity? Most households would think about their bill, and then try and recall what they pay for electricity. What a large number of consumers don’t always realize is they pay a regulator-approved price that ...
Rahul Tongia
May 7, 2014
Opinion & Commentary
Regulations, Reforms & Pricing
Why energy needs a big-picture view
The word “energy” is missing from the executive and legislative vocabulary. It is, of course, liberally used, and issues like “energy independence” and “energy security” are part of any official statement on economic policy. But it has not been officially defined. There is no national policy ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
February 4, 2014
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
Step on the gas
The government must make it easier for oil and gas companies to acquire assets abroad An important plank of India’s energy security policy is to build up a portfolio of international oil and gas assets. The government recognises that hydrocarbons are tradables and can be purchased ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
October 6, 2013
Opinion & Commentary
Coal, Oil & Gas
A fact check on gas
How the recent gas price hike got it right. ONGC, Reliance and Cairn, the three major oil and gas producers in the country, should make an earnest effort to bring politicians, bureaucrats and other opinion-makers to their producing fields in the offshore basins of Krishna Godavari, ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
August 5, 2013
Opinion & Commentary
Climate Change
Reflections from Binsar
Talent, money and policy must be harnessed to search for the optimal development-environment balance The tragedy in Uttarakhand cannot be overstated. It is a tragedy of monumental proportions. For me, there is a personal dimension. I have a home in the forest sanctuary of Binsar which ...
Vikram Singh Mehta
July 1, 2013
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