What should India submit as its “Intended Nationally Determined Contribution” (INDC) for the Paris climate negotiations?
How do we ensure that our INDC simultaneously promotes development objectives, is politically strategic, and analytically robust?
Centre for Policy Research, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (www.iiasa.ac.at) and Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town (www.erc.uct.ac.za) have formed a partnership and, in collaboration with the Prayas (Energy Group) (www.prayaspune.org/peg) are working to answer these questions by developing an analytical base for energy planning in India that addresses the multiple objectives of growth, equity and environmental sustainability. Such an approach to energy planning, based on an open, transparent and deliberative process, should logically form the basis for any international climate statement.
The ultimate objectives of this collaborative research are three fold. First, to inform and contribute to an analytically robust and strategically sound INDC that is rooted in Indian domestic energy objectives. Second, to foster and develop the idea of multiple objective based energy planning in India, which accounts for economic, social and environmental objectives of development. Third, to ground truth these ideas by developing sectoral initiatives using the concept of co-benefits, which can inform both domestic energy planning and India’s international climate contribution.
