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July 7, 2025 • 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm edt

Book Talk | Powerless: The People’s Struggle for Energy

Join Powerless author and CGEP Co-Director of the Energy Opportunity Lab Diana Hernández and CGEP Founding Director Jason Bordoff for a special conversation co-hosted by CGEP and Resources for the Future (RFF) on the book's major findings.

Event • Resources For the Future Convention Center
1400 16th St. NW, 1st Floor Conference Space
Washington, DC 20036
Book Talk | Powerless: The People’s Struggle for Energy
Initiatives

India Program

Analyzing the international implications of India’s energy transition

 Mission

The India Program at the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) aims to be the leading, influential voice on the international implications of India’s energy transition. The program will provide decision makers outside India, particularly those in the United States, with independent and policy-relevant analysis and solutions to constructively engage with the country in pursuit of shared energy, climate, and development goals. While global in outlook, the program will draw upon domestic policy developments in India and their underlying political and economic factors to connect decision makers in the country with their counterparts abroad.

Program Goals

  1. Research: rigorous, but accessible, energy and climate policy analysis that advances India’s energy transition and the international partnerships that will underpin it.
  2. Dialogue: provide a platform to connect senior leaders in energy and climate from India to their counterparts outside India. In addition, the program will act as a node to connect scholars and practitioners of India to those at Columbia University and other peer institutions.
  3. Education: advance CGEP’s and SIPA’s educational mission of preparing future leaders by incorporating India energy and climate topics into targeted student programming, instruction, and collaboration.

Context

While India’s energy transition will depend on domestic energy and climate policy, more international finance and technology is needed for the country to successfully undertake this transition. This occurs amid a backdrop of India’s own geopolitical aspirations as a rising power and a fragmenting global order. Among emerging markets and developing countries, the country is unique for its size, complexity and diversity. The world’s most populous country sits among the largest consumers and producers of energy. However, per capita emissions and energy consumption remain far below global averages, and its historical contribution to climate change is well behind its economic peers. Much of what in the country will consume energy and emit greenhouse gasses has yet to be built. Consequently, meeting the world’s mitigation goals to avert the worst of climate change hinges upon India’s energy transition. How the country meets its energy needs to fuel its economic aspirations while doing so sustainably will require new models of development and energy policies not before taken at India’s size and scale.

Research Themes

In line with CGEP’s broader research themes, the program will address three intersecting areas:

  1. Technology: India’s energy transition will require adoption of technologies yet to be commercialized. Recent forays into industrial policy by many advanced and emerging economies, including India, highlight the role that public support plays for technology development. The program will work to understand modes of international clean and climate technology development and where appropriate, transfer and co-development of these technologies to and from India.
  2. Finance: Domestic resources have largely funded India’s transition thus far, and the scope for further international finance is large. The program will work to understand how to better channel international financing to India, including those from the existing development finance architecture, as well as the private sector.
  3. Foreign Policy: Strategic competition between the United States and China and a burgeoning U.S.-India relationship have impacted the tone and tenor of India’s energy and climate relations. Moreover, as a large player, India plays an influential role in existing fossil fuel markets. Leveraging CGEP’s expertise, the program will analyze how geopolitical and geoeconomic relations with India influence the country’s transition and its impact on the rest of the world.

 

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