Statement on India’s Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy

Welcoming the publication today (Monday 14 November 2022) at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh of ‘India’s Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy’, Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, I.G. Patel Professor of Economics and Government and the Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said: “This important document provides sets out a detailed roadmap showing how India will pursue the new approach to economic and social development and fulfil the targets laid out in Prime Minister Modi’s landmark speech last year at COP26 in Glasgow. The Strategy provides details of actions that will be taken across the economy on both cutting greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience, including in electricity generation, transport, industry, cities, agriculture and forests. The Strategy provides the long-term context for the commitments laid out in its revised national determined contribution to the Paris Agreement. The Strategy incorporates the important ‘Lifestyle for the Environment’, or LiFE, initiative launched by Prime Minister Modi earlier this year, emphasising the importance of personal responsibility in driving change. The Strategy rightly emphasises the importance of adequate external financing for India to be able to meet its goals. It is important that the rich countries and international financial institutions work together to increase the flow of different forms of public and private finance and lower the cost of capital for investments in India. The transition in India to a sustainable, inclusive and resilient economy will provide opportunities and significant investment returns for the private sector, as it plays its role in creating the new low-carbon economy. Together the public and private sectors can play their roles alongside public action and personal commitment and responsibility in shaping a new form of development for India, advancing well-being in all its dimensions and driving down poverty. This strategy is a vital step forward for India and the world.”