Let us deploy fiscal federalism against climate change

livemint.com:

reality that Indian states must play the primary role in climate change adaptation and mitigation. Hence, there is a need for new federal institutions to rebalance governance capacity with states. The Constitution gives the Centre the lead role in key realms of climate governance, such as mines and petroleum, industry and inter-state waters.

The concurrent list has much of the rest, including forests and wildlife, factories and electricity. Other important areas of climate governance, such as local government, agriculture and water governance, are the preserve of state governments. However, the Centre has historically defined the framework in which states operate, generally through the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), which has set eight national goals for climate action.

All states have followed with state-level action plans (or SAPCCs). These outline the priorities of each, but with little mutual coordination. They are statements of intent with methods and funding constraints that vary, and are neither ‘investment ready’ nor aligned with the Centre’s net-zero target.

Effectively, state-level policies have been shaped by national schemes and centrally designed ‘model legislations,’ and channelled through institutional forums like the National Steering Committee on Climate Change (NSCCC), which comprises both central and state officials, and monitors state actions under the SAPCCs. Other forums include annual meetings of energy ministers, a forum of electricity regulators and the generally inactive Inter-state Council. To enhance the use of fiscal federalism for climate change, India should: Define activities and map climate finance channels: India should widen the mapping of programmes being implemented