Climate and clean energy issues are no longer fringe concerns for policy makers or environmentalists. In India, a country of 1.3 billion people, where the impact of climate change is becoming increasingly manifest, the need for a multi-tier, multi-stakeholder approach to tackle climate change has never been greater. Civil Society Organizations are expected to play a key role in this transition. The scale of the interventions required to meet India’s climate goals calls for broader and committed CSO movements that will push for the right policies and hold decision makers accountable.
Like other developing countries, India historically has been more concerned with addressing development challenges than the threat of climate change – which is why civil society supported education, health, gender and other rural and urban development issues. For environmental CSOs in India, local environmental and developmental issues were the main concern for decades.
Research shows that it was only after 2007 that the opportunities for Indian CSOs to increase engagement with global climate change–related activities increased significantly. There are many reasons for this. Global climate events began to attract a large number of CSOs from the Global South, particularly from India. The network effects created by expanding global CSO networks helped to mobilize funds and increase national-level mobilization of sustainability issues. CSOs also began to innovate new repertoires to enhance climate change awareness. As a result, there was an increase in the number and diversity of climate organizations.
COP21 at Paris was especially favorable for emphasizing civil society participation as a key avenue for the implementation sustainability goals.
In the last decade, Indian civil society has done a great deal for India’s clean energy and climate agenda. This engagement varies from policy advocacy and scientific research to community-based adaptation and grassroots mobilization. CSOs have delivered robust evidence and research that has helped pushed forth new laws, policies and informed India’ stance at global climate negotiations. At the local level, CSOs have strengthened community engagement by drawing out individuals, organizations and coalitions with diverse perspectives and giving them a voice in furthering India’s clean energy ambitions.
Clean energy and climate action can fuel the net zero transition, enabling growth and promoting sustainability. But the transition from ideas to action will not be easy, creating the need for an extensive support system for CSO development and scaleup.
For one, CSOs operating at the national level—and particularly those operating at the international level—often boast of technical and organizational capacities that are lacking in grassroots-level CSOs. Also, it is generally believed that CSOs based in the national capital and in metropolitan cities have greater influence and participation in the policy development process.
At the global platform, India’s larger focus on mitigation has marginalized work on adaptation and addressing climate impacts such as sea level rise, drought and increasing extreme weather events. Policy focused CSO – both homegrown and international – have prioritized clean energy and air pollution issues, whereas adaptation came much as an afterthought.
India’s bold climate goals call for deepened technical and new capacity expertise among CSO. For instance, the ability to set long-term and sustained commitments, to create strong policy coherence and solutions, as well as to enter into partnerships between governments and other stakeholders. In particular, CSOs will require strengthened technical expertise to work on new and emerging themes like Green Hydrogen, and carbon capture, material efficiency, and artificial intelligence for climate change.
Civil Society can play a pivotal role in shaping climate action but must be further empowered with the right knowledge and information to mobilize policy and ground level change. In addition to traditional workshop setting, CSOs will benefit from more innovative forms of capacity building. This may include: development of toolkits on specific themes and topics, tailored mentoring and support, and selection of capable local partners. Continuous CSO collaboration will help generate synergy and joint learning. This will make for easy appreciation and a trickle-down process. Constant and active follow-up monitoring would help ensure that the CSOs sustainably apply the acquired skills and knowledge.
How can we take the many exciting clean energy ideas emerging around the country and scale them up to achieve the potential that they promise? A key step involves identifying the most promising ones and helping them accelerate their growth. With the right kind of leadership from initiatives like the Clean Energy Lab, early stage CSOs can get faster traction and scale their ideas.
READ MORECenter for Sustainability, Policy & Technology Management (SusPoT)
SusPoT, founded by Mitavachan Hiremath, is assisting governments, civil society organizations, industries and the general public in developing inclusive sustainability strategies and implementing action plans towards achieving a climate-neutral India by 2050.
Quote – The Clean Energy Lab helped us to align our passion for sustainability-oriented policy research and design with the funding landscape of India’s clean energy space. The bootcamps and workshops provided clear direction on developing sustainable fund-raising strategies for SusPot from a long-term perspective. In fact, we received our first independent project funding right after our year-long incubation period with the Lab.
Palak Agarwal spent several years in Orissa working to create an energy access ecosystem for some of its most interior, rural villages. Enthused by the easy embracement of technology and seeing the gap in electricity access, she co-founded the Batti Ghar Foundation to promote sustainable technology innovations as well as entrepreneurship.
Quote – I applied to the Clean Energy Lab with the idea to create a framework for preventing the early loss of solar systems and for managing end-of-life solar PV systems in formal and informal markets. At the end of the incubation period, I was able to successfully pursue corporate sector organizations who showed interest in investing in the Batti Ghar Foundation
Pratap Raju is the Founder of PR Climate Studio, now incorporated as Climate Collective Foundation. The Foundation empowers entrepreneurs throughout the Global South by building and strengthening local climate startup ecosystems by bridging the gap between the development and private sectors.
Quote – PR Climate Studio participated in Clean Energy Lab when we were just starting our journey. Although the majority of our work revolves around running climatetech startup accelerators, we have been able to develop and enhance our research capabilities over the last few years. In September 2021, we launched a report in partnership with the India Impact Investors Council titled ‘Early-stage Climate-tech Startups in India: Investment Landscape Report 2021.’ We are now also launching a series of industry reports around sustainability and innovation
Bask Research Foundation, founded by Simran Grover, is a human centric research and policy advocacy initiative which strives to balance the dialectic of access to reliable and affordable energy as a fundamental right and climate action as a paramount responsibility.
Quote – The Clean Energy Lab provided opportunities to network and engage with leaders, institutions and donors in energy and climate policy space. Some of the key take away from the program was a much-enhanced understanding of complexity and nuances of policy making. Our Mentor, Professor Ashwini Chattre’s sessions on the subject continue to shape our research and advocacy strategy even after three years.
GridLabs Research Foundation, founded by Aumkar Borgaonkar, seeks to catalyse sustainable transitions by transforming policies, processes and technologies using evidence-based research and enabling solutions. GridLabs believes that for a transition to be sustainable, it should be financially viable, environmentally mindful and socially just.
Quote – The year-long incubation period with the Clean Energy Lab helped us to revisit, introspect and improvise the fundamental ideas regarding GridLab’s institutional philosophy and find our feet as an organization. It also helped propelled us into the next stage of our growth trajectory.
Read more about the Shakti-ISB Clean Energy Lab here