







































Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal 5 (2): 153-156, July 2022 

REPORT 

A Report of the Roundtable on “Pathways Towards 
Transition to Low Carbon for Industry in India and 
Developing Countries”, the Centre for Development 
and Environment Policy (CDEP), Indian Institute of 
Management Calcutta  

Arunika Mishra, Shreyasee Das , Samhitha Kasibhatta , Himadri 

Shekhar Chakrabarty 

1. BACKGROUND 

The Centre for Development and Environment Policy (CDEP),1 an inter-
disciplinary platform under the aegis of the Indian Institute of Management 
Calcutta, as part of the Building Roadmaps for Industrial Decarbonisation 
and Green Economy (BRIDGE) initiative, organized a Roundtable on 16–
17 May, 2022, in Kolkata. The roundtable was attended by more than 30 
researchers and policy practitioners from varied disciplines such as 
economics, finance, political science, environment studies, and climate 
change, who brainstormed and formulated ideas that would contribute 
towards CDEP’s annual report on the theme ‘Transitioning Away from 

 
 Doctoral Student, Public Policy group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Diamond 
Harbour Rd, Joka, Kolkata, West Bengal 700104, arunikam21@iimcal.ac.in 

 Doctoral Student, Strategic Management group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, 
Diamond Harbour Rd, Joka, Kolkata, West Bengal 700104. shreyasee.dass@gmail.com  

 Doctoral Student, Finance group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Diamond 
Harbour Rd, Joka, Kolkata, West Bengal 700104, samhithak19@iimcal.ac.in 

 Doctoral Student, Economics group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, 
Diamond Harbour Rd, Joka, Kolkata, West Bengal 700104, himadric17@iimcal.ac.in 

Copyright © Mishra, Das, Kasibhatta, and Chakrabarty 2022. Released under Creative 
Commons Attribution © NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the 
author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of  Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581–6152 (print); 2581–6101 (web). 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v5i2.755 

1 See the Centre for Development & Environment Policy page on the IIM Calcutta website: 
https://www.iimcal.ac.in/faculty/centers-of-excellence/centre-for-development-
environment-policy/centre-for-development. 

mailto:arunikam21@iimcal.ac.in
mailto:shreyasee.dass@gmail.com
mailto:samhithak19@iimcal.ac.in
mailto:himadric17@iimcal.ac.in
https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v5i2.755


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Coal for Energy Generation’. The two days of the conference were divided 
into four sessions with themes such as providing alternative pathways with 
a macroeconomic approach keeping in mind the need for a just transition, 
governance and policy perspectives in the adoption of low carbon 
technologies, opportunities and challenges for industries, and the role of 
investors and shareholders. 

At the outset, the roundtable recognized the goals set by the Government 
of India in its commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 
2070 to manage the impending climate crisis. More importantly, the paths 
and means of achieving those targets were discussed in great detail through 
a review of various government roadmaps, targets, and scenario forecasts of 
agencies like the International Energy Agency. The group agreed on a 
bottom-up approach to managing the menace. Further, another key topic of 
discussion was the importance of fostering dialogue between research and 
policy through implementable solutions that cater to not just techno-
economic interests but also socio-economic considerations, given the 
existence of a large informal labour market in India.  

2. SESSION SUMMARY 

The first session stressed the need to repurpose distressed coal plants for 
uses like renewable energy generation, storage, and ancillary services. It was 
further recognized that better utilization of old assets needs to be ensured. 
However, it was agreed that energy justice must not be compromised in this 
process. The transition must take into account not only the interests of the 
nation but also those of individuals who may be directly or indirectly 
affected by it. In this context, where energy, environment, and the economy 
are highly integrated, the role of the government and other regulatory 
bodies was recognized as significant, especially in facilitating a democratic 
and decentralized energy framework.  

Thereafter, the discussions moved towards understanding the governance 
structure for the carbon transition and the alignment of priorities between 
national and sub-national government agencies through a proper evaluation 
of revenue flows, transaction and transition costs, and the role of subsidies 
and taxes. In this regard, the second session threw light on various 
beneficial global policy practices in enabling carbon transition finance with 
a focus on technology transfer. The broad architecture involved the use of 
interest rate subventions for adaptation measures, identifying and assessing 
transition risks, providing micro-credit for sustainable development, and 
implementing bio-rights, along with drawing meaningful lessons from 
disaster finance. Further, since state-owned enterprises are often the 

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/agenda-for-cop26-how-to-achieve-net-zero-79878


[155] A.*Mishra, S. Das, S. Kashibhatta and H. S. Chakrabarty  

 

 

conduits for implementing the renewable energy goals of the government, 
arguments favouring concessional financing mechanisms through explicit or 
implicit state guarantees were placed before the house. These could reduce 
capital costs and attract private investments to the renewable energy sector. 

The need for defining new business models through change management in 
organizations, along with the need for assessing the potential for 
decarbonization along the value chain for coal, was the focal point of 
discussions in the third session. It was widely opined that evolving business 
strategies need to incorporate sustainability risks and opportunities by 
taking climate risk and wider environment social governance (ESG) issues 
into perspective. Thus, the need for a ‘new and improved’ industrial policy 
was put forward, where the government works in tandem with the industry 
to address demand-side requirements like the promotion of low-cost 
technologies and supply-side initiatives like upstream policies on research 
and development and downstream policy support for new technologies. 
This process of energy diversification would not only create new channels 
of energy security but also open up opportunities for job creation. 
However, long-term planning would be required to ensure that job losses 
from dislocation are minimal and a proper skills gap assessment is 
undertaken for new jobs.  

Finally, the last session centred on avenues for firms to tap financial 
institutions for easier access to credit. Further, the need for repurposing 
domestic financial institutions to fund the transition and channel financial 
resources into renewable energy technologies was discussed. To achieve 
India’s carbon transition goals by 2030, the need to assess exposure 
emerging from transition risk, along with the need to attract funds from 
multilateral agencies and have a specific financial intermediation strategy, 
were recognized.  

3. CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD 

The workshop aimed to create a knowledge base by putting together 
findings from the extant literature and practices under a common umbrella 
to facilitate collective reflection and work towards making the research area 
more mainstream. There was a consensus that it must not be ‘just a 
transition’ but a concerted effort towards operationalizing a ‘just transition’ 
by exploring credible opportunities and making it lucrative for investors to 
finance projects. The critical discussions and reflections are expected to 
translate into contributed articles and sections in the CDEP’s Annual 
Report. This report is expected to be ready for publication before the G20 
Summit to be held in India in 2023. The same group is expected to meet 



 Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [156] 

 

again later this year to finalize the report, which could be the beginning of a 
journey which India undertakes in walking the talk on carbon transition.  

 


