Mathur Ritika Passi

Targets 7.a and 7.b
These two targets of SDG 7 focus on the
enabling mechanisms required to successfully
achieve the goal. It is aimed that by
2030, international cooperation as well
as research and investment in renewable
energy, energy efficiency and cleaner fossil
fuel technologies will be enhanced, and that
there will be an expansion of infrastructure
for supplying this modern and sustainable
energy in developing countries. 33 Innovation
and research in the area of energy
technologies has largely been spearheaded
by western nations as a result of their advanced
capabilities. It is vital that technology
transfer mechanisms are instituted to
allow the flow of technology from developed
to developing nations. Access to the
latest low-carbon technology will be essential
in India to scale up renewable energy
and make it cost effective. At the same time,
it is hoped that demand for cleaner energy
technologies, as a result of domestic policies
in developing countries such as India, will
act as a market ‘pull’ for technology innovation,
to go hand-in-hand with the ‘push’
for R&D in western nations as they seek to
lower their carbon emissions.
Challenges and the Way Forward
Although India has aimed to develop 175
GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022,
it is unlikely that the existing governance,
financial and social institutions and systems
can support such a rapid building-up of
renewable capacity. In the financial year
2014, India added 4.1 GW of renewable
capacity, beating its target of 3.7 GW by
8.5%. 34 However, to achieve 175 GW by
2022, it would require a capacity addition
of nearly 20 GW per annum for the next
seven years. This is likely to be a bridge too
far.
First, major structural changes will be required
to shift from India’s dependence on
fossil fuels. At the moment, India is highly
dependent on coal for the simple reason
that coal provides cheap energy and energy
affordability is crucial for a country like
India. Second, India is a democracy, and
democratic systems of government are inherently
contradictory to the radical policy
changes and reforms required for massive
technological change and transformations
of the energy system. Five-year electoral
DEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS OF
GOVERNANCE ARE INHERENTLY
CONTRADICTORY TO RADICAL
POLICY CHANGES AND REFORMS
REQUIRED FOR MASSIVE
TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND
TRANSFORMATIONS OF ENERGY
SYSTEMS. CHANGING INDIA’S
ENERGY MIX WILL NEED TO
INVOLVE A SOCIAL TRANSITION
AS WELL.
cycles, a multiparty system and focus on
short-term gains needed to secure re-election
are the realities that are inescapably intertwined
with India’s energy future and which
the political system in India must confront
in its bid for a clean energy utopia. Sweeping
energy transformations are also tricky, given
that they involve enormous social transitions
that must be factored in. As Miller and Richter
note, “energy transitions are thoroughly
social affairs.” 35 In democracies such as
India, the ramifications of social change take
on greater significance. Large protests have
already been witnessed in the country over
hydropower projects, for example.
Last, there is the question of finance. The
175-GW goal of renewables by 2022 is
estimated to require more than $100 billion
of financing over the next seven years. 36 To
put that number in perspective, $100 billion
is a third of the total budgeted expenditure
of India’s Union Government for 2015-16
(INR 17.77 lakh crores). 37 India has also had
a history of stalled infrastructure projects in
recent years, and there is little enthusiasm
with regards to current government policies
and initiatives seeking to promote renewable
energy investments. 38 According to Climate
Policy Initiative, markets will also be unable
to provide sufficient finance to meet India’s
ambitious renewable energy targets, with the
biggest challenge to scaling up renewable energy
in the country being the cost of finance,
particularly debt. 39
It is also important to question whether
renewable energy can effectively solve problems
of round-the-clock energy access. Renewable
energy is unsuitable for production
of baseline energy due to its low availability
and intermittency concerns; instead, thermal
and nuclear power are far more suited to
meet baseload demands. 40 India must bal-
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