Climate Change and Development: Walking the tightrope

My article on the interaction between climate change and development was chosen and published in the special edition of Outreach - a multi-stakeholder magazine on climate change and sustainable development for COP 19 in Warsaw, Poland.
The link to the article is here: http://www.stakeholderforum.org/sf/outreach/index.php/previous-editions/cop-19/194-climate-and-development/11591-climate-and-development-walking-the-tightrope

The article is pasted below:

Climate and development: Walking the tightrope

Surabhi Shankar, Harvard Kennedy School

Typhoon Haiyan which struck the Philippines recently, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction, served as a rude wake-up call to climate change sceptics and governments alike. In recent years, the frequency and severity of weather-related disasters has been on the rise worldwide, causing extensive economic, environmental and social damage. In developing countries particularly, the damage derails development and in many cases, sets them back by many years. Communities in Indonesia and India that were hit by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami are still recuperating, in spite of several years of massive and determined restoration efforts. Coincidentally, most of the small island states under the UNFCCC that are more vulnerable to climate change related disasters are also developing or underdeveloped nations. From a starkly different perspective, carbon emissions in emerging economies are rapidly rising, fuelled by a strong focus on economic development. A study conducted by a Dutch environmental agency and the European Commission’s Research Group pegged the cumulative emissions of China and other emerging economies since 1850 at 48 per cent of global emissions. These factors together put the spotlight on the relationship between climate change and development and the need to develop a robust framework to ensure sustainable development for all stakeholders while tackling the issue head on.

The potential areas of focus in the debate on climate change and development include:

• Climate negotiations and financing
• Policy design and implementation
• Disaster relief and management

Climate negotiations are critical, particularly to voice the concerns of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), against whom emission-effect ratios are highly skewed. Assistance here is essential, be it in the form of legal support to organisations, building a knowledge base to support arguments or pro-bono advisor support in framing climate policies, trade regulations, and climate taxes. Climate finance is another major area for intervention. Initiatives like the Green Climate Fund provide much needed impetus towards a low emission, climate resilient path for developing countries. These initiatives become particularly important in supporting programmes that may not be economically profitable, by providing a reliable ‘bridge’ until they become viable for private sector participation.

No amount of negotiation or funds can replace the power of sustainable, climate-friendly policies in driving change. Repeated bouts of dense smog in major cities in China thanks to widespread and unabated use of cheap coal have finally pushed the Chinese government to adopt energy and air quality measures. Similar policy regulations are being taken by cities like Delhi and Tehran. Energy efficiency is another major focus area. Faced with rising fuel costs and a huge power deficit, resource-constrained economies like India are enforcing efficiency norms, such as standards for lighting systems, green building codes and regulations for power producers. However, more needs to be done in this area to facilitate fast, widespread implementation. Finally, a mammoth push towards renewables is needed through policy. Though several technologies in wind and solar have already attained grid parity, further research investments are required to bring down costs and ensure universal adoption.

Disaster relief and management is the quintessential third leg needed to balance this equation. Long-term actions on mitigating climate change involving negotiations, financing and policy will do little to change impending disasters that are bound to pummel countries worldwide. Thus, robust disaster management systems with effective feedback learning loops are crucial. A fraction of the relief funds must be channeled towards building mechanisms to pre-empt and tackle future expected disasters. These could range from huge investments in disaster management systems or simple measures like training locals in identifying the symptoms before a tsunami. Efforts should be made both by aid agencies and national/local governments to actively learn from similar situations in the past and incorporate these lessons in meeting future natural disasters head on.

Climate and development is, and will continue to be, a burning topic in the coming decades. However, fruitful negotiations, strong action-oriented policies and efficient disaster management can provide effective solutions in tackling what needs to be the biggest concern of humankind today.

There she goes.

"Shyamal..." screamed the voice of his supervisor. Shyamal who was squatting on a flat stone, cussed, bit his beedi and spat. "Coming!" he shouted back as he leaned his lithe athletic body forward and stood up with a brisk move. Throwing the rest of his beedi down, he rubbed and buried it into the ground with his foot and walked towards the building site where he worked. As he approached the huge building, he squinted upwards. It was a hot Delhi day and the sun was beating down on the entire city mercilessly. As he walked, his supervisor signalled impatiently to him to come quicker. Shyamal glared at the rotund, short fellow with his yellow plastic cap and jogged reluctantly forward. Holding his elbow, the supervisor led him to a corner and stared at him. "Kya?", asked Shyamal irritatedly. "I'm sorry Shyamal, but we are going to have to let you go" came the words, hurriedly, sheepishly. Shyamal stared back, not grasping what his supervisor had just said. He stuttered, "But.. but.. I wasn't loitering around again... that was my lunch break! I was smoking my beedi during my lunch break. What are you saying?". "Shyamal, it's not your fault. They are stopping construction here and diverting a smaller number of people into another site in Gurgaon. It's not just you... We are letting 50 others go. Here's the money for all the work that you have done this month. I ask you to leave right now." said his supervisor holding a thin empty-looking envelope. Shyamal snatched the envelope, looked inside and raised his fist to punch the supervisor as he suddenly realized what had happened. As if on cue, two security guards caught him - one grasped his wrist and the other his shoulders, overpowered him, dragged him out screaming and threw him out of the building into the hot afternoon.

"Perfect, just perfect... it had to happen. It's all because of her!" thought Shyamal angrily as he briskly walked out of the construction site towards the bunch of temporary huts that swam into view in the dusty horizon. On reaching the settlement, he jogged towards his own hut and pushed open the black door. The door creaked open and he stormed inside. As his eyes adjusted to the dim, cool darkness inside, he saw her looking intently at him from the other end of the room. She immediately smiled as she always did and her eyes crinkled when she saw him looking back at her. Shyamal lunged across the room, reached the cot and hit her across the face. Her eyes teared up as she looked back at him. She never cried loudly and this irritated him more and he hit her again. The wound on her cheek from yesterday's beatings opened up and a fresh drop of blood streamed down her cheek and diluted with her teardrops.

"Do you know what happened today?", he screamed. "I lost my job. Again. Yes, the fourth one in five months... and it's all because of you!" She continued sobbing softly as she rubbed the wound on her cheek with her dusty palm. "Since you came into my life, you have brought only bad luck. First I lost my father and then these land sharks came and took away my own land for my father's loans. Everyone nagged me to go to the city and find a job and I came, dragging you along. I should have realized back then that you would bring me nothing but more misery. I came here and see what happened? I lost job after job, thanks to you. I've had enough! Enough!" he screamed as he walked back across the room, struck a matchstick, lit a flame in the chulha and placed an iron rod in it. He then lit a beedi and walked towards her and she lay on the cot cowering. He dragged her down and threw her on the floor. She screamed loudly at the impact and tried to sit up again. He pounced on her and thrashed her with all his fury. Taking the lit beedi, he lifted her thin shirt and burned it into the skin on her back as she screeched. As her wailing got louder, he continued burning the beedi into different points in her back, a manic glint in his eye, as he created a pattern that meshed with last week's dulled beedi marks. Her sobbing grew softer and stopped as she fainted from the pain. Irritated, Shyamal lifted himself up and picked up the hot iron rod from the chulha and placed it on her back. She jolted back to consciousness and screamed. He threw the rod aside and hit her over and over again as she cried. He then picked her up and threw her against the wall. She fell on the floor, shuddered and went still. He stared and realized that life had left her. Regret quickly crossed his mind as he realized what he had done and his expression softened. Shyamal then walked across the room and gently picked her up, placed her on the cot and walked towards the door. As he opened the door, he turned and looked back for a moment at the now lifeless body of his ten month old daughter, sighed and walked out.


Note: This piece is written as a tribute to Baby Falak and the scores of other children who were tortured, battered, wounded and beaten to death by their own kith and kin. Baby Falak died on March 15th last year at a Delhi hospital after suffering unimaginable torture. Her story led to national and international outrage over the horrific treatment of baby girls in our country and brought hope that something would be done about it. Today, less than a year after Baby Falak's death, she's almost forgotten and that faint hope of a better tomorrow for other babies is dead. In the last year, Baby Falak was followed by Baby Afreen, Baby Ahuti Joshi, Baby Shireen, Baby Tanaaz and tens of other innocent, helpless infants who were murdered by those who bore or sired them. They are not with us today and are not going to be the wonderful, strong women that they would have grown up to be. However, this Women's day, let us all resolve to punish the miscreants and murderers and to put an end to this. And let us all spare a thought for those innocent little children and hope that they have departed to a better world.

Rethinking PPPs in renewables through community participation: A developing nation perspective

I co-authored an article that was published in Outreach: a multi-stakeholder magazine on climate change and sustainable development.

The link to the article can be found here. The full text of the article is below:

The International Energy Agency estimates that 1.4 billion people will continue to lack electricity access in 2030. Renewable energy offers a sustainable alternative to bridge this huge gap. Increasing awareness around climate change caused by fossil fuels mandates continued development of renewable energy, despite recent discoveries of new fossil fuel sources. With decreasing system costs, ability to provide energy access in remote, off-grid locations and the imminence of grid parity in the future, both public and private entities stand to benefit by jointly promoting renewable energy systems around the world for the development of communities.

Though Public Private Partnerships (PPP) have become the preferred way for governments and international development agencies to ramp up infrastructure development globally, the experience with them has been mixed. The criticism of PPPs has focused on lack of independent regulatory mechanisms, incoherent ownership patterns, complexity and risks involved in financing. However, this has not stopped governments from promoting PPPs in renewables.

Emerging and under-developed economies – Brazil, India and Senegal have adopted replicable solar photovoltaic (PV) or hybrid models, albeit for different purposes. Brazil constructed a 400 kW solar PV generator to power a soccer stadium through a PPP between Electrobras, German Ministry of Environment (GIZ) and the State of Bahia. Rooftops of government buildings in Gandhinagar, India are being offered to solar energy companies to provide 5MW at pre-designated tariffs. Another hybrid PPP system (solar-diesel-wind) between PERACOD and INENSUS helped provide electrification and employment to a small village in rural Senegal, enabling villagers to generate income through economic activities and pay for power usage, thereby creating a mutually-beneficial, replicable model. These projects showcase a symbiotic relationship in providing power at the demand location by combining public sector facilities and private sector capital and expertise. They have also provided valuable policy lessons for future projects and key insights into pricing incentives. The State of Gujarat (Gandhinagar project) prices the power produced from these rooftop panels at a level that barely covers the opportunity cost of renting rooftops for other purposes. This sends a clear message that projects cannot be replicated till optimal incentives for all stakeholders are met.

A major challenge to scalability is cost - electricity generated from renewable energy sources is still many years from grid parity. Many PPPs fail because of fundamentally mismatched objectives of different stakeholders. For renewables particularly, the economics are far from ideal for private players. In this context, incentives and objectives of stakeholders need to be recalibrated. Governments must target increasing energy penetration and access, creating enabling policies, encouraging research and development (R&D) and focus on accrued social benefits, while private sector players should overlook wafer-thin profits in the short-term and focus on long-term investments and gaining a technological grasp in the sector. Further, research has shown that creating an ecosystem where a vibrant civil society contributes significantly to this partnership will provide the much-needed perspective on end user needs and aspirations. Appropriate involvement and intervention at each stage by the three sections will result in a workable, replicable model.

While public and private sector roles are well articulated, civil society (non-profits, social entrepreneurs, and communities) interventions at each stage can be invaluable in the development of a successful, scalable model. Four possible project stages at which civil society interventions could take place are:

• Planning: Contribution towards articulation of purpose and end objectives, and providing inputs on possible social, economic and environmental effects

• Development: Deployment monitoring and reporting – mapping implementation with plans and providing feedback on quality of deployment

• Operation and monitoring: Social audits to ensure objectives are met and enable smooth functioning

• Handover: Identify community champions responsible for system continuance in case of exit of private operators after the project ends

In conclusion, an altered PPP model with recalibrated objectives and active civil society participation can ramp up adoption of renewable energy, particularly in emerging and under-developed countries where electricity access is low and most-needed.