ABSTRACT
India’s subnational states are becoming more important policymakers due to India’s changing political economy, economic liberalisation and related decentralisation. The role they play in the country’s environmental, climate and green energy governance is slowly changing from that of mere policy implementer to policymaker in their own right. The states’ environmental performance in the traditional areas of environmental pollution control is weak, the political-administrative capacity building limited and there is also indication of an environmental race to the bottom. On the other hand, in a few cases state governments have developed innovative approaches to stimulate green development and to create favourable investment conditions. Solar and wind energy deployment in various states is evidence of this. In doing so, they not only support technological leapfrogging but also facilitate the co-benefit of environmental leapfrogging as a side-effect. India’s states only occasionally pioneer green policy innovations and engender others to follow them.
