Environment policy needs federalism to play a big role

livemint.com:

climate change management. This is especially true for countries like India that are likely to bear more than their fair share of the climate-action burden, given that it is mostly the actions of others that led the world to this crisis. India also has a high proportion of people directly employed in natural resource dependent sectors.

However, thus far, the country has no modern formal climate legislation, at either the federal or state level, beyond the dated Environment Protection Act of 1986, which gave sweeping powers to the central government on environment policy and implementation. As international financing mechanisms evolve, their conveyance to sub-national levels will be critical to ensure international commitments are met in a unified way across all levels of government. Global experience: In a growing number of countries, federal governments are taking steps to work in coordination with sub-national governments to ensure alignment in climate change policies and regulations.

This includes sharing guidelines, standards and technical specifications to guide sub-national climate action while maintaining consistency with national objectives. Canada is a good example of a country where the management of climate change with provinces and territories includes a combination of fiscal federalism, collaboration and shared responsibilities. Germany too has a federal system where both the federal government and regional governments have responsibilities for climate change policies.