Modeling sustainable development: India ' s strategy for the future
| Published date | 31 May 2012 |
| Pages | 120-135 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20425941211244270 |
| Date | 31 May 2012 |
| Author | Rajul Singh,Roma Mitra Debnath |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Environmental technology & innovation |
Modeling sustainable
development: India’s strategy
for the future
Rajul Singh
IILM Graduate School of Management, Greater Noida, India, and
Roma Mitra Debnath
Indian Institute of Public administration, New Delhi, India
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the relation among the various enablers of
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to know their degree of dependence and driving power. As
there has been non-agreement among the various stakeholders regarding the benefits of sustainability
brought about by CDM, this paper explores the viability of sustainable development in the Indian
scenario.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper discusses a model to address the issues of sustainable
development in the context of CDM. An interpretive structural model (ISM) has been used to model the
various parameters of sustainable development in the Indian context. The relevant parameters have
been considered as per the existing literature review.
Findings – The result shows that sustainable development is achievable if the nation emphasizes on
strategic goals and mission because sustainable development is driven by the strategic parameters
such as “employment creation” and “long-term economic goals”.
Research limitations/implications – The ISM model developed is not statistically validated,
therefore structural equation modeling (SEM), also commonly known as the line ar structural
relationship approach, may be used to test the validity of such a hypothetical model.
Practical implications – The government of India has to emphasize on education and inclusive
employment to improve the quality of life, which would enable the sustainable development to be
achieved.
Originality/value – This paper describes one of the few empirical studies conducted in India.
Keywords India, Sustainable development, Government policy, Modelling,
Clean development mechanism
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The challenges of how to respond to climate change and ensure sustainable
development (SD) are currently high priority for the world’s leading economies.
According to model projections, developing country greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
are going to exceed industrialized country emissions sometime between 2010 and
2020 (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2001). At the same time,
developing countries are struggling with immediate development concerns. The clean
development mechanism (CDM) is the first type of climate change mechanism to take
into account this challenge. It also explores the potential for integrating climate change
and SD considerations in specific projects. Projects that qualify for CDM include the
following: end-use energy efficiency, supply-side energy efficiency, renewable energy,
fuel switching, agriculture, industrial processes, solvent and other product use, waste
management and sinks (afforestation and reforestation). These projects also satisfy
additionality and contributions to SD (Pacudan, 2005).The ad ditionality condition
states that projects must result in reductions in emissions that are additional to any
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5945.htm
WorldJour nal of Science, Technology
and Sustainable Development
Vol. 9 No. 2, 2012
pp. 120-135
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
2042-5945
DOI 10.1108/20425941211244270
120
WJSTSD
9,2
that would occur in the absence of the project activity and the projects must lead to
real, measurable and long-term benefits. The sustainability condition states that
projects must assist developing countries in achieving their SD goals.
While CDM projects explicitly aim to bring dual benefits, in terms of climate
mitigation and development in their recipient country, the development benefits are
more hypothetical than real. The CDM has been subject to extensive discussion in
academic literature during the last few years, and a common assessment is that the
current structure of the CDM leads to a focus on cheap emissions reductions at the
expense of SD benefits for the host countries. According to Chung (2007) and Schatz
(2008), CDM is a mechanism that does not itself reduce emissions, but offsets the
increase in emissions elsewhere. In response, there have been calls to move the CDM
beyond an offsetting-only approach (Schneider, 2009). Cames et al. (2007) and
Michaelowa (2005) opined that the additionality of CDM projects is ques tionable, even
though the degree of additionality may be different for different project types. In the
view of Rosales and Pronove (2003) determining which projects contribute to SD and
which ones do not is context specific and subjective as countries and even regions
or communities may have different views on what is sustainable, and what is
development. This difficulty is part of the reason why the definition of SD is left up to
the non-Annex I host countries. Olsen (2007) concluded that left to market forces,
the CDM does not significantly contribute to SD. Sutter and Parren
˜o (2007) believed
that the greatest amounts of certified emission reductions are being generated by
projects with the lowest or no contribution to SD in the host countries. Recently, the
questionable additionality of many CDM projects ha s become a central issue (Paulson,
2009). According to IUCN (1980) and Markandya and Halsnaes (2002) in order to
achieve SD in developing countries and with CDM projects in particular, there is a need
to emphasize strongly on national development priorities such as poverty reduction,
local environmental health benefits, employment generation, economic growth
prospects, etc. According to Daly (2002) a few principles are required to achieve SD.
They are limiting the scale of population size growth, taking into account the carryin g
capacity of the earth, ensuring that technological progress guarante es the growth of
efficiency and finally balancing the relationship between the use of renewable natural
resources and their supply, the level of emissions not to exceed the assimilating ability
of the environment.
CDM practices in India
India is perceived as one of the most attractive non-Annex I countries for CDM project
development. Even though more than 28.18 percent of the total CDM projects
registered by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
(1997) are from India, it has been highlighted that a majority of the CDM projects
have purely economic orientation and are not directed toward achieving overall SD
(Sharma and Das, 2009). In the Indian context the goal of SD is inextricably linked to
poverty, education and employment as much as to climate change and global
governance response. These issues now hold the key to environmentally effective
modeling that can show us the way to SD.
Since the establishment of the Indian Designated National Authority in 2003 it has
approved a significant number of projects. A total of 420 projects have been registered
by the CDM executive board, which account for close to 40 percent of all the registered
projects (as of May 1, 2009). In the initial stage of CDM development in India, biomass
utilization projects, waste gas/heat utilization projects and renewable energy (wind,
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Modeling
sustainable
development
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