Mapping India's Energy Subsidies 2022 covers India’s subsidies to fossil fuels, electricity transmission and distribution, renewable energy, and electric vehicles between fiscal year (FY) 2014 and FY 2021.

We found that fossil fuels continue to receive far more subsidies than clean energy in India. This disparity became even more pronounced from FY 2020 to FY 2021, going from 7.3 times to 9 times the amount of subsidies to renewables.

Key figures:

• India provided over INR 540,000 crore (USD 77 billion) to support the energy sector in FY 2021, including nearly INR 218,000 crore in the form of subsidies, INR 140,000 crore as investments by public sector utilities (PSUs), and at least INR 190,116 crore lent by three biggest public finance institutions to the power sector.
• The subsidies for fossil fuels were nine times higher than clean energy subsidies in FY 2021; they were 7.3 times higher in FY 2020, yet overall fossil fuel subsidies have fallen 72% between 2014 and 2021. To reach 500 GW of non-fossil power capacity by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2070, the country needs to shift support away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy technologies.
• Coal subsidies fell to their lowest level since at least 2014, hitting INR 12,976 crore. To ensure affordable power for all, it is not effective to subsidize coal. The government can provide technology-neutral electricity subsidies instead.
• Oil and gas subsidies fell 4% to INR 55,250 crore in FY 2021. India removed a major liquefied petroleum gas subsidy, before reintroducing it in a more targeted form in May 2022. Targeting, however, can still be greatly improved, and support is also needed for non-fossil cooking solutions.
• Low-priced electricity makes up 65% of all subsidies, at INR 141,895 crore. The shift to clean energy will require cost-reflective electricity tariffs, increasing the pressure for reforms in years to come.
• Subsidies for renewable energy fell 59% in FY 2017-2021 as deployment has slowed and grid-scale photovoltaic solar and wind reached cost parity. The government must refocus its support for clean energy technologies to reach 500 GW of non-fossil power capacity by 2030.
• Subsidies for electric vehicles have tripled to INR 849 crore between 2017 and 2021. India announced a production-linked incentive program last year to attract investments in domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles and components.
• In 2021, several PSUs announced new clean energy partnerships and targets, but most have not set out clear strategies for adjusting business models to clean energy transition and net-zero. In FY 2020, India’s 7 Maharatna PSUs invested 11 times more in fossil projects than renewable energy.
• In FY 2021, annual disbursements by the largest power finance institutions were three times higher for fossil generation than renewable energy. While these institutions play a major role in shifting public finance away from fossil fuels, they have no clear strategy to adapt their lending practices to the clean energy transition.

The report is accompanied by an interactive online database to help users browse the subsidy data in detail and includes detailed spreadsheets and annexes for policy-makers and researchers. The analysis is the latest update in the India's Energy Transition series from the International Institute for Sustainable Development's (IISD) Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). For previous iterations of this study, see:

• Mapping India's Energy Subsidies 2021: Time for renewed support to clean energy
• Mapping India's Energy Subsidies 2020: Fossil fuels, renewables, and electric vehicles
• India's Energy Transition: Subsidies for Fossil Fuels and Renewable Energy, 2018 Update
• India's Energy Transition: Mapping subsidies to fossil fuels and clean energy in India

In corporate boardrooms and the corridors of political power in Canada and worldwide, business and political leaders are stepping up to act on climate change. While multiple technologies and approaches will be necessary, clean electrification—substituting fossil fuels with renewables and other forms of clean electricity—has consistently been the most affordable, reliable, and efficient path forward to net-zero by 2050. This report and four sector-specific briefs outline the catalysts that will get us there. 

Despite growing recognition that climate change and biodiversity loss are highly interlinked, policy efforts addressing both crises in an integrated manner remain limited. There is a need to make better use of existing opportunities to translate synergies effectively into policies and implementation. The upcoming Conferences of the Parties under the biodiversity and climate conventions provide further opportunities for this, particularly in the 2024 triple Rio-COP year.

How can synergies between the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agendas be used to their full effect? Which trade-offs with respect to integrated policy design and implementation need to be considered? On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) collaborated with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), to develop a series of six thematic papers to enhance the understanding and policy uptake of synergistic approaches. This includes legal agreements, recent scientific findings, and practical implementation aspects related to, for example, nature-based solutions.

The series was first published in 2022 and is now being gradually updated. Building on the results of CBD COP 15 and UNFCCC COP 27 and 28, Thematic paper 1 was revised in September 2024. The paper focuses on legal agreements under the CBD and UNFCCC, and was updated by the IKI project "Support project for implementation instruments of the Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement (BioClime)" in cooperation with IISD.

The paper series’ overall objective is to enhance the understanding and policy uptake of such synergies, including through nature-based solutions, their enabling conditions, and the support mechanisms required for joint implementation and mainstreaming of biodiversity and climate change policies at the national and local levels. Especially in view of the upcoming COPs, the aim is to inspire negotiators, policy makers and practitioners to advocate for strategies and solutions that combine the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity with climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Download these Thematic Papers from adaptationcommunity.net:

• Summary Paper: Synergies Between Biodiversity and Climate Policy Frameworks

1. Linkages and Synergies Between International Instruments on Biodiversity and Climate Change
2. Linkages Between Biodiversity and Climate Change and the Role of Science-Policy-Practice Interfaces for Ensuring Coherent Policies and Actions
3. Nature-Based Solutions: An Approach for Joint Implementation of Climate and Biodiversity Commitments
4. Good Governance for Integrated Climate and Biodiversity Policy-Making
5. From National to Local Implementation: A Collaborative, Multi-Level Effort to Achieve Joint Climate and Biodiversity Goals
6. Delivering Financing for Joint Biodiversity and Climate Solutions

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of findings from the first round of activities for the four components of the project, namely the nutrition profile (Task 1), the data assessment (Task 2), relevant parts of the literature review (Task 3), and the findings of the first consultations (Task 4). Our research is based on diverse sources of information, including the relevant outcomes of the Ceres2030 project, public policy documents, peer-reviewed literature, and international databases. Using these sources of information, this report provides an overview of the current economic, social, and climate (mitigation and adaptation) trends in Malawi, as well as projections based on the Ceres2030 project model. We also include a brief review of relevant policy documents addressing undernourishment and agricultural development, along with an overview of the approach and early findings from country consultations. The report concludes with a brief summary of relevant national trends and planned next steps in the country-level research and analyses.

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of findings from the first round of activities for the four components of the project, namely the nutrition profile (Task 1), the data assessment (Task 2), relevant parts of the literature review (Task 3), and the findings of the first consultations (Task 4). Our research is based on diverse sources of information, including the relevant outcomes of the Ceres2030 project, public policy documents, and international databases. Using these sources of information, this report provides an overview of the current economic, social, and climate (mitigation and adaptation) trends in Ethiopia, as well as projections based on the Ceres2030 project model. We also include a brief review of relevant policy documents addressing undernourishment and agricultural development, along with an overview of the approach and early findings from country consultations. The report concludes with a brief summary of relevant national trends and planned next steps in the country-level research and analyses.

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of findings from the first round of activities for the four components of the project, namely the nutrition profile (Task 1), the data assessment (Task 2), relevant parts of the literature review (Task 3), and the findings of the first consultations (Task 4). Our research is based on diverse sources of information, including the relevant outcomes of the Ceres2030 project, public policy documents, peer-reviewed literature, and international databases. Using these sources of information, this report provides an overview of the current economic, social, and climate (mitigation and adaptation) trends in Nigeria, as well as projections based on the Ceres2030 project model. We also include a brief review of relevant policy documents addressing undernourishment and agricultural development, along with an overview of the approach and early findings from country consultations. The report concludes with a brief summary of relevant national trends and planned next steps in the country-level research and analyses.

The results of this assessment provide an overview of the societal costs and benefits of different water treatment options, considering outcomes for citizens, businesses, Mossel Bay Municipality, and the Western Cape Government. The comparative valuation provides several insights. Examples of research questions include: how efficient are the different technologies for treating the wastewater, and what contribution would they provide to the water quality of the Hartenbos estuary? Do the different options comply with national water quality standards? What would be the direct and indirect economic outcomes of improving water quality and recycling water? These questions (and more) are answered in this SAVi assessment.

Improving subsidy targeting can allow for subsidies to be better focused on small and marginal farmers and at the same time reduce the fiscal stress on Haryana’s distribution companies (DISCOMs) and the state government. This report reviews the government’s flagship solar irrigation scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme and recommends that it be used to target small and marginal farmers. Providing low-income farmers with financial assistance to transition to solar-powered irrigation helps them reduce their irrigation costs. It will also reduce the state’s burden of agricultural electricity subsidies.

The report also encourages DISCOMs to consider decreasing the level of subsidy for agricultural consumers who use more power so they are required to pay higher tariffs by moving away from flat-rate tariffs and introducing slab-based tariffs. This will address a part of DISCOMs’ financial issues and be a fairer distribution of subsidy benefits.

Lastly, the report underlines the need for better identification of poor beneficiaries to ensure subsidy targeting doesn’t miss its mark. Identifying poor farmers is a complex and dynamic process, and it requires up-to-date databases with different variables on assets and socio-economic status. Haryana DISCOMs can closely coordinate with different state government agencies that maintain registries on poor households accessing different welfare schemes—like the purchase of subsidized grains available with the civil supplies department, landholding size available with the revenue department—to maintain their own dynamic registry or use a state agencies registry of poor farmers to better target agricultural electricity subsidies.

In response to environmental and climate stresses, the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, plans to plant 25 million trees over 5 years starting in 2021. In this report we present the results of the Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) for tree planting in Addis Ababa. Using spatial models to generate inputs for an integrated cost-benefit analysis and financial assessment, we show that planting trees generates value for society and can increase climate resilience.

Specifically, we calculate the benefits of trees in terms of air quality, stormwater retention, ambient air temperatures, carbon storage, job creation, and fruit production under two climate scenarios. We also show that trees are a more feasible investment than grey infrastructure alternatives. The results can inform the city’s plans to plant 25 million trees over the next 5 years.

The report demonstrates the value of urban green spaces for climate adaptation and the importance of investing not only to build but also to maintain nature-based infrastructure (NBI). Trees provide a range of services for communities and public agencies alike—but only if they survive. Furthermore, many of these impacts are not direct cash flows. This highlights some challenges in valuing and funding NBI. It is our hope that this integrated assessment can allow for these non-monetary impacts to be included in decision making.

Negotiations under the World Trade Organization’s Joint Statement Initiative on e-commerce are expected to reach convergence on most issues by the end of 2022. Around 38 developing countries participate in this initiative, many of which face considerable constraints in their human and technical resources and knowledge. This can prevent their active engagement in the negotiations, as well as their ability to benefit from and implement the future agreement.

This paper emphasizes the urgency of answering developing countries’ call for support during and after the negotiations. It highlights potential approaches to strengthen cooperation and capacity building and to implement proposed text provisions so that they address the needs and concerns of developing countries and help develop their e-commerce ecosystems.

This material has been produced with funding by UK aid from the UK Government. The Umbrella Grant is a project of the Trade and Investment Advocacy Fund (TAF2+) and is implemented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, in consortium with CUTS International, Geneva and BKP Economic Advisors.

Views expressed in the publication are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect HM Government’s official positions or those of TAF2+.