Towards a progressive Indian and global climate politics - A CPR Climate Initiative Working Paper

However, on each of these issues, there is a healthy under-current of domestic debate. Moreover, broad agreement on this perspective does not translate to strategic unanimity. There are three divergent positions within India: growth-first stonewallers, progressive realists, and progressive internationalists. For a renewed Indian climate politics, the two progressive groups will have to join forces. However, this will require far stronger signals of good faith from the international community, and industrialised countries in particular

The paper informs that almost two decades after negotiations began, differences in perception along North – South lines continue to have a negative impact on the agreement. Economic competitiveness has now joined environmental integrity as the dominating metaphor for many industrialised countries. Fairness, understood in terms of historical and per capita emissions continues to be an important benchmark for India, and perhaps for other developing countries too.

The paper argues that agreement on the details of a climate deal will require further narrowing of these persistent differences in framing of the climate problem. However, domestic climate politics in India does provide some hope for supporters of a progressive global climate agreement. There is growing acceptance of the need for India to aggressively pursue a lower carbon development trajectory and to do so as part of a global responsibility.

There is a more honest discussion beginning about the lifestyle choices that Indians are making and about internal distributional and equity issues. And there are calls for a more open and transparent domestic policy-making process around climate change, one that will engage with the issue as a developmental challenge and not only as a diplomatic one. However, to convince more Indians that our interests lie in close integration with the global climate regime industrialised countries will have to renew and deliver on efforts at building trust.

A copy of the paper can be accessed at this link