Incentive-based Approaches for Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Issues and Prospects for India

As a consequence of the flexibility mechanisms incorporated in the Kyoto Protocol, incentive-based policies such as emissions trading and the clean development mechanism are being widely discussed in the context of greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement. This paper examines various issues related to incentive-based approaches for India. Some of the specific questions it addresses are: does India stand to gain or lose if emissions trading is realised even if it remains outside such an arrangement? Are there any other incentive-based approaches, e.g., carbon taxes that India could adopt? In the ultimate analysis, however, market-based instruments (MBIs) for GHG abatement in India cannot be viewed in isolation from an overall incentive-based orientation towards environmental policy as well as broader economic and legal reform that creates a suitable milieu for MBIs. Therefore, the paper goes on to examine problems of implementing MBIs in general, particularly those related to monitoring of emissions and of enforcement. Several specific solutions are also proposed.