HomeWorld NewsClean energy transition finance must put India’s interests front and centre

Clean energy transition finance must put India’s interests front and centre

  • January 9, 2023
  • Posted by: Bastion team
  • Category: World News
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As India starts its G20 presidency, all eyes are on a crucial point mentioned in the final decision text of the recently concluded COP27 — a “just transition and just energy transition partnership (JETP)”. While an energy transition to renewables typically focuses on requisite technology and finance, a “just” energy transition argues for people-centric measures, one that reduces the negative impact of energy transitions on communities. The JETP combines technology, finance and people to help facilitate this transition. The G7 countries signed an $8.5 billion JETP deal with South Africa at COP26 in 2021, followed by a $20 billion deal with Indonesia and a $15.5 billion deal with Vietnam in 2022. There are now strong murmurs that the G7, led by the US and Germany, is courting India for a similar partnership. Should Delhi play ball?

A JETP for India has to be tailored to the country’s needs and not be a hand-me-down. A blinkered desire of the developed world to phase out coal use from the developing world without factoring in country-specific needs gives the same warning signs that erstwhile IMF-led deals did. As economist Joseph Stiglitz has argued, the conditions that IMF required for lending such as fiscal austerity, trade liberalisation, open capital markets and so on, were often counterproductive and devastating for the local population. We analyse why a JETP for India cannot be a neo-IMF bailout on terms dictated by the G7.

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