THERE is a rich city in our country that turns one of our major rivers into a sewage canal, but uses less than two- thirds of the sewerage treatment capacity it has installed. It sucks in water from distant hills, but still cannot provide water to even its planned settlements which, in any case, are home to less than one-fourth of its population. More is spent on connecting this city than on the national highway network that connects the five other major cities of the country – yet, the city cannot find depot space for its public bus service.

In India, institutional arrangements around climate finance have mostly followed national policy responses to climate change. This paper maps the emergence of climate change policy in India and subsequently traces the evolution of arrangements around climate finance. An early assessment of the climate finance landscape in India suggests that it is a highly complex and fragmented space with a multiplicity of institutions, actors, and channels of climate finance, both public and private, and domestic and international.