A Green New Deal in India?

Photo: Víctor Pérez. Some rights reserved.

In the past “Green” ideas and ideologies played only a minor role in India. Economic growth and poverty alleviation always were at the centre of India’s development paradigm and policies of the respective governments. This approach however changed rapidly during the recent two years within the national discourse on energy security and climate change. For the first time financial means were provided in the budget negotiations 2010/2011 for green technologies, for instance for the “National Clean Energy Fund” which is meant to promote renewable energies and enhance its proportion largely within the energy mix. Furthermore, the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission was allotted a budget of 10 Milliarden Indian rupees (~ 175 Millionen Euro) to assure the achievement of the national goal to generate 20.000 MW electricity from solar energy source by 2022.

Indiapossesses a large potential in the renewable energy sector. In 2009 the market was estimated at 600 Million US $ with a tendency to annually grow by 15 percent. At the moment the installed capacity of renewable energy (wind, solar, bioenergy) is roughly 3700 MW which accounts to 3.5 % of the energy mix. Until 2030, as per Indian Planning Commission, the capacities are planned to be increased to 200 GW, to meet the energy demands of the poor rural India from renewable sources. With the support of the Clinton Foundation, India develops currently the largest solar energy project globally with a capacity of 5 GW.

Despite insufficient political and institutional framework conditions, the Indian economy has invested already more than $150 million U.S. into the renewable energy sector by now. HSBC forecasts investments of around 150 billion US $ in the next ten years. Also the Indian IT-industry invests distinctly into Green technologies and started to produce eco-friendly laptops for the first time.

Furthermore, the development of so-called “Smart-Grids” is pushed in order to convert the present centralised, by big power plants generated electrical power to decentralised grids actuated by renewable energies.

According to the UN report ‘Green Jobs’ the potential for generating employment in the bio gas sector alone is 900.000 jobs until 2025; 300.000 jobs in the manufacturing of stoves and 600.000 in the production of briquettes and pellets.

Indian climate negotiators indeed point out that the country still runs a low-carbon economy, with only 1.3 tons per capita CO2 emissions annually. Nevertheless, in global perspective, India is already the fourth biggest CO2 emitter, with a strong upward drift. 70 % of its electricity is still produced by coal-based power plants whereas the nuclear industry receives the largest political support in the country. The automobile market booms and the metropolitan areas suffocate due the daily traffic jams, the rising exhausts and the deteriorating air pollution. Up to now, also the opportunity was missed to regulate the energy-intensive industries such as cement, steel or aluminium so that foreign investments are still flowing in and putting a strain on the carbon footprint of the country.   

A developmental paradigm change, in order to reform its industry to low carbon energy sources in the long run, has not been aspired by the Indian government so far. Instead, coal and oil are still fuelling the economic growth rates. To truly speak about a Green New Deal, the current development model based on neoliberal and conventional economic and ecological policies needs to be fundamentally questioned and alternatives for the Indian economy as well as for the Indian population have to be designed and realised.    

Dr. Michael Köberlein, Director HBF India