Jyoti K Parikh is executive director of Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe), an institute focusing on energy and climate change, and member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change. She has also worked with the governments and multilateral institutions in various capacities besides teaching at Stanford, Yale, Brown, Oxford and Columbia universities. She has written extensively on energy economics, climate change and modeling, energy technology assessment, environment economics, natural resource management. In an interview with FE’s Rajiv Tikoo, Parikh takes stock of India’s progressing on addressing climate change challenges and explains how corporate India can contribute to the national response. Excerpts:
You are working closely with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his office on the National Action Plan on Climate Change. How do you assess India’s response in fighting climate change in the larger global context?
In comparison with other countries, I think we are doing well in terms of responding positively, particularly of late. Considering that we are only one-tonne per capita country, yet we are saying that we are ready to reduce emission intensity by 20-25% by 2020. India is a large country and we have a long way to go in terms of even providing electricity to people, let alone conserve it. First you have to have something, then only can you conserve it. We also have the haves and have-nots. There are also some people wasting it. But that’s not a large proportion. Now there is a national consensus is in terms of programmes and policies vis-a-vis climate change. But it has to spread to states and cities. And that is the next stage. The Prime Minister has also given assurance that our emissions won’t exceed those of developed countries.
How much interest is the Prime Minister taking on these issues?
He comes for every mission meeting and sits through the end. Which other Prime Minister does it. I have not heard of this type of commitment from the Prime Minister of any other country.
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is the poster mission of the NAPCC. But the pace and the scale of its roll out don’t seem to be in sync with its ambitious targets.
I thought it was over ambitious to start with because costs are so high at this stage. But the whole idea is to bring the costs down. We have to make it cost-effective. It calls for the private sector to come into the picture in a big way. Funding it by pumping in government money is not the way to go about it.
What’s stopping the private sector from coming in a big way?
The costs. The solar energy cost is much more than that of the conventional energy. Besides, 24-hour availability and reliability are other issues.
But the cost has already come down in the first phase of the solar mission with the help of competitive bidding?
There are doubts about it. There are people who are bidding to simply get ahead of the competition. Then there is the lure of the government subsidy. There are a lot more issues, which are quite complex.
What more can the government do to engage the industry more proactively?
I would put it the other way round. Indian industries have still a long way to go in energy efficiency. They need to put their house in order. They have to find some space for that long-term thinking for their own survival and growth and also in the interest of corporate social responsibility. You need to step aside a bit and say where are we going and where is the society going. And not just think of immediate bottom line.
What are Indian industry’s strengths in this area, which are yet untapped?
I must say that many of the industries have a lot of land. In old days, people took up a lot of land to do little things. And nowadays since they do have that land, they can do many more things in their backyards. For example, they can harness solar energy. The government is open to supporting public-private partnerships.
Source: The Financial Express
Published on 30 May 2011