governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
Humans have faced existential threats before during the 300,000 years they have been around. Self-inflicted harm exceeds damage from natural calamities. Science has grown our understanding of how human progress itself seeds new existential threats. And yet, humans have proliferated and benefited from each scientific iteration that outsourced work to machines. Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) […]
Read More AI: Keep the Genie BottledThe path to net zero is not just long but also likely to be a twisted, winding mountain road, full of uncertainties and expensive, risky alternatives, necessitating doubling back often, technology hopping and nimbly stepping past geopolitical disruptions. Scientists, technologists, businesses, and politicians should lead The pilots for this enterprise are scientists, technologists, and businesses […]
Read More wield The stick to walk the Long Road to Net ZeroSeventy percent of Indians believe that their country is a world leader in climate action—the highest endorsement across 29 advanced, upper- and lower-middle-income economies excluding China, as per the IPSOS Global Survey. On average, only 31 percent globally and 41 percent of Swedes and 38 percent of Singaporeans share this belief about their own countries. […]
Read More IPSOS Global Survey 2023 on Climate Action PerceptionsBy 2070, India will go from spewing 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually to none at all — a near nirvana like, post-industrial wonderland called “Net Zero” — when a country’s carbon emissions from humans, animals and decaying plants equal the amount of carbon that forests and trees absorb to grow. Any additional emissions […]
Read More India Energy Transition: Who will lead?In India, biomass—the fallen leaves in your garden, crop residue at your farm, organic garbage, and waste from your house—are just shy of around one third of the available primary energy, mostly in rural areas, where agricultural residue is generated. Some of it is collected and stored for later use. Burning biomass in a cook […]
Read More A Bright Red Line Between Social and private costs and BenfitsDifferential time horizons for net zero imply that there is no universal price for mitigating carbon emissions. Decarbonisation plans are proliferating globally, including in India. First came the plan to electrify vehicles, even before electricity supply standards had reached international levels of 0.999 reliability. Next, the near-term goal of having 50 percent of electrical energy […]
Read More Decarbonisation VignettesIndia, like the rest of the world, is not yet visibly on the freeway to net zero. Greta Thunberg and others of her persuasion believe this is because young people—future victims of climate change—are not in charge. This could well be true. But consider the recklessly fast-forwarded track for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Fintech, or social […]
Read More On the Freeway to net zeroThere is a 93 percent probability that at least one year between 2022-2026 will dislodge 2016 as the warmest year. More worryingly, the probability of a temporary increase in temperature more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) which was zero in 2015, has now increased to 48 percent. The warning bell is ringing, and it […]
Read More Energy Transition Under fiscal and Institutional stressThe late Atal Behari Vajpayee (Prime Minister of India in 1996 and 1998–2004) had a keen ear for technology. After listening patiently to complicated, technologically correct proposals, he could bring such high-level discussions down to earth by wondering how these “best in class” options could actually be implemented on the ground. Best in class options […]
Read More Decarbonization: Institutionally adriftAn India, more populous than China this year, and growing to 1660 billion people by 2050, is touted as good news by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – an agency which monitors population trends and its implications for the economy. Most Indians though, have mixed feelings about adding 240 million odd people to what […]
Read More Think before you have a baby
Opinion India 