The collective action and the push for behavioural economics principles would pave the way for a brighter future

India celebrated its 32nd National Energy Conservation Day on December 14. The day established in 1991 highlights India’s role in energy conservation and the country’s efforts to become an energy-efficient country while successfully dealing with climate disasters. Over the period, some important policy initiatives were taken like Ujala scheme, which was a LED lamp distribution project. Ujjwala scheme aimed to protect the health of women and children by access to clean cooking fuel.

These initiatives were part of a larger shift towards renewable and green energy resources that aimed to produce 450 GW of capacity in renewable energy by 2030 and reduce global emission intensity by 45 per cent from 2005 levels. However, achieving these targets is full of impediments and seems more arduous if the change does not occur at the fundamental levels.

One can say, based on statistics, that India is still quite far from going green. Even the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) report 2022 states that 41 per cent of the population and more than half of the rural population still rely on solid or unclean fuel combustions, which results in health risks. Although, our analyses using the unit-level data of all five NFHS rounds (1992-2021) showed that there had been a significant decline in households using unclean fuel, with the last five years registering the largest decrease in terms of percentage, which was in line with the International Energy Agency-2021 (IEA) report that claims “biomass, primarily fuelwood, makes up a declining share of the energy mix but is still widely used as a cooking fuel. Despite recent success in expanding coverage of LPG in rural areas, 660 million Indians have not fully switched to modern, clean cooking fuels or technologies”.

Another research using ACCESS survey data (2016 and 2018) published similar results (Nature Energy, 2020). The findings of our paper seems to show that even the current level of unclean fuel use can have significant health hazards for under-five children living in the house along with women and the elderly (The Lancet Global Health, 2020).

Even at the macro level, according to the IEA report of 2021, in the last two decades, India’s energy consumption has more than doubled due to its rapidly growing population which may soon surpass that of the rest of the world and almost all inclusive access to household electricity, that was accomplished in 2019, i.e., in less than 20 years, over 900 million people now have access to electricity.

Additionally, the report’s analysis of overall energy consumption revealed that three fuels i.e., solid biomass, oil, and coal, provide more than 80 per cent of India’s energy needs. Mainly because industry growth and power production have been supported by coal, which continues to be the dominant fuel in the energy mix. Also, as the number of vehicles on the road has increased, so have oil usage and imports. These numbers will indeed get reflected in the form of harmful impacts of climate change. The four primary climate change indicators marine acidification, rising sea levels greenhouse gas emissions, and ocean heat, were at all-time highs in 2021, according to the State of the Global Climate report (World Meteorological Organisation), which shows that anthropogenic activities are generating profound and long-lasting changes in the land, the water, and the atmosphere on a global scale.

The Government has already initiated the process on different fronts. One front is seen through various small initiatives undertaken innumerous programmes, such as the Swachh Bharat campaign or Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao (with specific behavioural approaches), which was also mentioned in the report of the 2019 Economic Survey. The other front is through celebrating such essential days and acknowledging the ones giving their share of contribution to the public welfare. The one that was seen on December 14 where the current President of India, along with Union Ministers, felicitated the winners with awards on National Energy Efficiency Innovation and National Energy Conservation. These awards are given across 56 sub-sectors of the country to recognise their achievements in energy efficiency as a part of its awareness campaign.

So, to observe real and impactful change, it is essential to transform the social norms that are ingrained within the individuals and within communities with the help of behavioural economics along with some stringent policies like-1) a policy of a compulsory minimum of three riders on private four-wheelers (except in emergency), 2) compulsory messages of energy conservation awareness on political billboards and hoardings, 3) cashable credit points in e-wallets of individuals using public transport including the approach of even-odd formula.

Understanding this, the Government also launched mission LiFE in 2021 (of NITI Ayog and MoFECC), which is being called an international mass movement led by India that will encourage both individual and group efforts to save and preserve the environment. The outcome of this flagship project would entail representation of India in the COP 28, UNFCCC to be held from November 30 to December 12, 2023.

This seems right as the collective action and nudging using behavioural economics principles would pave the way for a brighter future. However, the fruits of the planted behavioural interventions are yet to be harvested.

Yet, its full potential can only be realised when the policies are more focussed on the demand side perspective rather than the supply side of the economy as it will target to alter and nudge the individual, social and cultural norms through behavioural approaches which further depends on the future of research that will be carried out.

(Pratap C Mohanty is Associate Professor, IIT Roorkee; Priyandu M Bajpayee is Research Scholar, IIT Roorkee. Views are personal and derived from study)