How Just and Democratic Is India’s Solar Energy Transition?: An Analysis of State Solar Policies in India

Sharma, Karnamadakala Rahul; Bhatia, Parth

doi:10.1017/9781009171908.004

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, the securitization of energy has yet to address widespread energy poverty, as 65% of Indian households experience energy poverty (Gupta et al, 2020). Recent analyses suggest that India's renewable energy transition is adopting the model of its current centralized and inequitable power infrastructure and is unlikely to ensure energy security for a large section of India's population (Sharma & Bhatia, 2022). Similarly, decades of rapid economic growth have contributed to the concentration of both wealth and carbon emissions.…”

Section: Narratives Of “Climate Nationalism” In the Asia Pacificmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate nationalisms: Beyond the binaries of good and bad nationalism

Kashwan

Liu

Das

2022

WIREs Climate Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate nationalism has attracted renewed interest among scholars and analysts of international climate politics, security studies, and international relations more broadly. However, the most prominent arguments about climate nationalism follow a storyline of “good nationalism” or “bad nationalism”—a “positive civic nationalism” versus a “destructive ethnic nationalism.” In this article, we review these debates by drawing on prominent strands of scholarship on climate nationalism, mapped onto three key aspects: climate securitization, political populism, and Civic nationalism. To further ground our review in real‐world politics outside of the United States and Western Europe, we offer a snapshot of climate nationalism narratives deployed by political elites in three large countries in the Asia‐Pacific: Australia, India, and China. Our review shows that considering the multiscalar, multisectoral, and global scope of climate action, it may be futile to look for a conclusive answer to the question of whether nationalism is good or bad for fostering effective and enduring transformations suitable for a climate‐changed world. Instead, we recommend a research agenda focused on investigating the myriad ways in which political and economic elites fuse discourses of nationalism with various aspects of climate politics and climate action. A proper understanding of elite interests, discourses, and strategies, in ways that account for varied national and regional political and economic contexts, we argue is crucial for a fuller understanding of how narratives of nationalism may affect climate action. This article is categorized under: The Carbon Economy and Climate Mitigation > Policies, Instruments, Lifestyles, Behavior Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance Climate and Development > Knowledge and Action in Development Policy and Governance > National Climate Change Policy

show abstract

Section: Narratives Of “Climate Nationalism” In the Asia Pacificmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate nationalisms: Beyond the binaries of good and bad nationalism

Kashwan

Liu

Das

2022

WIREs Climate Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

NGO versus Government's solar energy provision in India: A feminist perspective

Mininni

2024

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The meaning of solar energy: Political imaginaries of solar energy in contemporary India

Girard,

Shokrgozar,

Sareen

2024

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since the early 2010s, India has become a global leader in the deployment of solar energy. The country has set ambitious targets, launched several international initiatives, and seen its installed capacity increase sharply. The aim of this paper is threefold: first, to identify the dominant political narratives that legitimate this massive deployment; second, to analyze how these narratives have evolved over time; and finally, to investigate how these narratives frame policymaking and exercise material influence across different scales. To do so, we draw on an analysis of federal political discourses from 2010 onwards as well as on six months of multi-sited fieldwork during 2022–2023. We identify two overarching narratives. The first narrative, “solar nationalism,” posits solar energy development as a national mission aimed toward global green energy leadership. It is synergistic with a certain vision of the nation and with India's desire to brand itself as a leader in environmental protection. The second narrative, “win-win techno-solutionism,” constructs solar energy as an eco-friendly economic opportunity for generating employment and development in rural areas, enhancing expertise, and expanding business horizons. Despite clear differences in emphasis from one political majority to another, the overall continuity of the two narratives throughout the study period is noticeable. We argue that these narratives work to legitimate top-down policymaking, the prioritization of quantitative targets over more qualitative indicators, and the promotion of utility-scale solar plants over other scales of deployment.

show abstract

How Just and Democratic Is India’s Solar Energy Transition?: An Analysis of State Solar Policies in India

Cited by 3 publications

References 33 publications

Climate nationalisms: Beyond the binaries of good and bad nationalism

Climate nationalisms: Beyond the binaries of good and bad nationalism

NGO versus Government's solar energy provision in India: A feminist perspective

The meaning of solar energy: Political imaginaries of solar energy in contemporary India

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About