ESG dilution: Way forward lies in inequality sensitive By Amitanshu Verma | August 1, 2022 https://www.cenfa.org/esg-dilution-way-forward-lies-in-inequality-sensitive-re-finance/ The Global South which still majorly relies on non-renewable sources has had to take two steps back as it gradually puts in place a policy infrastructure for RE. These developments underline; as has been widely noted; that the endeavour to shift to RE is often contingent on geopolitics and other factors.
assistant professors Rohit Azad of Jawaharlal Nehru University and Shouvik Chakraborty, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, have proposed an ‘Indian Green Deal’ to finance the country’s energy transition. The fairest option, according to them, is that advanced countries who have historically consumed far more energy than the global south should pay for this transition to developing countries, and propose a global carbon tax based on historical inequities of emission. While this line of argument may benefit India at International fora, the authors realise the difficulties in implementing such a measure in the national and business-interest driven international scene. They propose something similar to be implemented at the level of national economies. Pointing out the class division in emissions within the country they calculate that ‘the richest 10% Indians emit almost seven times as much as the poorest 10%.’ This inequity in emissions, they propose, needs to be inverted while fixing responsibility for financing green transition.