India

Indian Federalism and Climate Change

Federalism is a hot topic (so to speak) for scholars working on climate change, but we have so far remained resolutely at home, focusing solely on American federalism.  It’s now time to start thinking about how federalism might impact India, which has maintained a federal system for more than 60 years, and has decentralized greatly in …

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The Indian Style of Climate Policy

If India ever does something about its growing carbon emissions, this is the book that tells you how it will happen.  Rob Jenkins’ Democratic Politics and Economic Reform in India is the best source I have seen so far that really gets into the guts of how the country’s political economy works.   And that’s what …

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US-India Climate Dialogue Agenda I: A TRIPS Protocol

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away — well, no, actually two months ago in Washington, DC, President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Singh inked something called the US-India Climate Dialogue.  It was a pretty transparent attempt to salvage something from the fact that India would never agree to binding emissions cuts (and …

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The Climate “Partnership” with India

At least that’s what the White House is calling it.  (Okay, okay: technically, the White House calls it the “Green Partnership to Address Energy Security, Climate Change, and Food Security.”).  Does it mean anything?  Maybe. Essentially, it provides for some technical assistance to improve governance capacity and scientific knowledge, and some new initiatives to foster …

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India’s Prime Minister Slaps Down Attempts at New Climate Negotiating Policy

Well, so much for that: Faced with resistance from within and outside to his advocacy for a dramatic change of stand on climate change negotiations,environment minister Jairam Ramesh was in a damage control mode on Tuesday. The minister retraced his steps against the backdrop of clear signs that the country’s climate negotiators, including Prime Minister’s …

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An Indian Cap-and-Trade System?

Well, here’s something potentially significant: India has approved in principle new trading plans centred on energy efficiency as part of efforts to shift to a greener economy to fight climate change, opening up a potential market worth more than $15 billion by 2015. … The plan involves creating a market-based mechanism that would allow businesses …

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Breathless in Bombay Redux: Corruption and Environmental Law

As I mentioned a few days ago, Bombay has 55,000 taxicabs that all run on CNG.  (And as I updated, the municipal buses do, too — something else that India does better than the United States.). But Bombay’s taxis present India-watchers and scholars with something of a problem: if you believe the standard story about India, …

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Breathless in Bombay

…is not just the name of a terrific volume of short stories by Murzban Shroff (mandatory reading if you come here): it is a condition that most residents here deal with daily.  But the government is actually beginning to do something about it, which should be highly embarrassing to their US counterparts. This is a …

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India’s New Government and Climate Change: Good News, Bad News

The Congress Party’s unexpected strong victory in the 2009 elections has also brought one of the strongest Cabinets in recent times.  For those interested in the upcoming climate talks, however, it also presents some challenges.  At the end of the day, climate policy will not be a focus of the government, but there are some …

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Passage to India

Just arrived in Hyderabad, India, for the RAND/India School of Business conference on entrepreneurship.  After that, I make my way west to Bombay, and then north to Delhi, where on June 19th, the new Jindal Global Law School will sponsor a major conference on climate. It’s (sometimes) nice going to conferences, but I am also hoping to find …

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