Overview

India is driving some of the most important trends in global energy markets-with vast environmental implications. As the country grows wealthier, Indians are buying more cars, air conditioners, plane tickets, and other goods that increase demand for fossil fuels. At the same time, the country still faces widespread poverty, and it struggles to address persistent environmental and energy-sector problems, from frequent power outages to a significant number of deaths linked to air pollution. Johannes Urpelainen provides an expert guide to India's energy and environmental issues that incorporates both domestic and global perspectives. He details how unequal economic development and rapid population growth have brought the country to its current state: a potential engine of the world economy hampered by environmental hazards and energy poverty. Urpelainen argues that institutional shortcomings have led wealthier Indians to find private solutions that protect them from threats such as air pollution and heat waves, but exclude the poor. The retreat of the rich limits the state's ability to regulate the energy sector or address environmental degradation. Urpelainen examines India's most severe environmental crises, considering how climate disruptions are affecting the country's present and future. He analyzes India's role in global environmental politics and assesses the prospects of achieving a more sustainable society. Useful and accessible, this book also offers pragmatic solutions to help overcome the constraints on effective energy and environmental policy.

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9780231194815

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Urpelainen provides a social and historical context for the development of India's environment and energy policy since independence. Not many books do this in an approachable manner, and hence Energy and Environment in India is a welcome intervention. The book convincingly makes the case that meeting India's growing energy needs sustainably is central to maintaining the global carbon budget. -- Kaushik Deb, Columbia University

Urpelainen provides a social and historical context for the development of India's environment and energy policy since independence. Not many books do this in an approachable manner, and hence Energy and Environment in India is a welcome intervention. The book convincingly makes the case that meeting India's growing energy needs sustainably is central to maintaining the global carbon budget. -- Kaushik Deb, Columbia University Urpelainen's analysis addresses two of 21st century India's most entrenched, interrelated policy and political challenges: expanding energy access while also protecting a fragile environment. The volume, which deftly situates these problems within their complex social, political, and historical settings, will be equally valuable for researchers, students, and policymakers. -- Sunila S. Kale, University of Washington

Author Information

Johannes Urpelainen is the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Professor of Energy, Resources, and Environment at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the founding director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy. His recent books include Global Environmental Politics: The Transformative Role of Emerging Economies (Columbia, 2022).

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