Enact a unified framework of law for climate action

India has set ambitious climate goals, but lacks a critical piece: the institutional and financial architecture to achieve them.

- ANOOP SINGH

Estimates suggest India needs over $ 1.5 trillion by 2030 to meet its climate and net-zero pledges. Attracting finance is a challenge, but the deeper issue lies in how these funds are managed. Fragmented responsibilities, ‘opaque spending and weak accountability risk keeping ambitious pledges from becoming bankable projects.

Fiscal credibility and climate ambition are two sides of the same coin. Mobilizing capital at scale requires a public financial management (PFM) system that covers budgeting, reporting and auditing, and functions with clarity and predictability. In other words, India needs a unified institutional framework to unlock its green transition.

Institutional chasm:

Currently, climate governance is scattered under the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC), ministry of finance, Niti Aayog and the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), while states handle most of the policy implementation. The MNRE, for example, drives solar and green hydrogen initiatives, but its efforts remain in a silo apart from India’s broader climate agenda.

Bodies like the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change (PMCCC) have attained limited traction and we have no statutorily-backed intergovernmental council to address cross-state challenges. Expectations that successive Finance Commissions would introduce climate-linked grants have not materialized, largely because of an absence of statutory backing and uniform metrics.