Macro Economic Assessment of Clean Energy Policy Across Indian States: An Application of E3 Model
Professor Kakali Mukhopadhyay, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and McGill University
Consumption of fossil fuels, gas and oil are all expected to increase tremendously, leading to a growth rate of total energy demand higher in India than in the major economies of the world. At present there is an overwhelming dependence on coal and the installed capacity in the renewable energy sector is less than a third of total installed energy capacity in India. With the specter of climate change looming large, it is imperative to move away from overwhelming dependence on fossil fuel like coal and oil in favor of clean and renewable energy sources in order to make sustainable development a reality. Accordingly, the government of India has set up targets for augmenting solar, hydro, wind and other sources of clean energy. The present study uses a Macro-Econometric framework of newly developed E3-India model that integrates the energy environment and economy at both national and regional levels to assess the possible impacts of the various targets of moving to a clean energy paradigm in India. Further, the study evaluates the scope and dynamics of climate resilient growth linked with the negotiated nationally determined commitments and further aggressive commitment towards meeting 1.50 C by 2035 at the regional level. A baseline has been developed for the year 2035 and alternative scenarios constructed on the basis of policies to promote capacity building in clean energy. The study makes detailed investigations at regional as also sector levels comprising thirty-two states and union territories across thirty-eight sectors, looking into energy installations and consumption, environmental emissions, as well as purely economic variables. The demand led simulation model provides an internally consistent economy-energy framework for 32 states and union territories of India. The model allows state-level impacts assessment for 38 economic sectors, 21 users of five different energy carriers and 24 power generation technologies. Our results reveal that selective investments in ambitious climate mitigation policies will produce overall economic growth for India. However, distributional impacts across states, especially those already identified as climate hotspots, will be uneven. These regions will therefore need effective policy interventions to manage the transition and ensure resilience in the face of climate change. Overall, the investigations would throw light on the alternative policy development possibilities for ensuring a clean and vibrant Indian Economy by the year 2035.
About the speaker
Kakali Mukhopadhyay is a professor of Economics at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (Pune, India) and an adjunct professor/senior academic fellow for the Agricultural Economics Program (Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill University, Montreal, Canada). She earned a M.Phil. and Ph.D. in economics with specialization in energy and environment from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India. Currently, as a senior advisor, she is also contributing high level inputs for development and validation of E3-India Model, a collaborative initiative of Regulatory Assistance Project, Vermont, USA and Cambridge Econometrics, UK. Prior to joining McGill in 2007, she was a postdoctoral research fellow and subsequently a faculty at the Center for Development and Environmental Policy, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, and Madras School of Economics, Chennai, India. She was also a postdoctoral/visiting fellow of the Faculty of Business Management, Oulu University (Finland); Stockholm Environment Institute (Sweden); the SOM Research School, Groningen University (the Netherlands); UNU MERIT, Maastricht University (the Netherlands); and the School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand). Additionally, she has served as a distinguished visiting professor at the De La Salle University, Manila, the Philippines (2014), and as a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (2017). Her research focuses on energy and environment, trade and environment, air pollution and health, economics of health, regional economic integration, R&D, and food safety. She has received a number of international fellowships and awards by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Indo-Dutch Program, and the Ford Foundation, and very recently, she has received the Presidential Award from the Chinese Government. She has also received the Best Professor Award in Energy and Environmental Economics in 2017 and 2018, under the National Education Award in India. She holds a key expert position at the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and similar positions in ASEAN Vision 2025, Asian Development Bank, and Shastri Indo-Canadian Program. She has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals of international repute. She has authored six books in various fields of energy, environmental pollution, and trade. She has completed several studies on behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme, UN-ESCAP,UNCTAD, Asian Development Bank, Shastri-Indo Canadian Institute, Public Health Agency of Canada, Genome Canada and Genome Quebec, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, BioFuelNet Canada, West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency, Indian Council of Social Science Research, and South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics—SANDEE.
Venue: 0.16/0.17
Date: 02 October 2019
Time: 12:00 - 13:00 CET
