Events of CSEC
November 22, 2022: The Centre for Studies on Environment and Climate at ADRI, Patna in collaboration with the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), Delhi, hosted a roundtable discussion on “Bihar's Policy and Budgetary Priorities for Transitioning towards Green Economic Recovery”. The roundtable emphasized on the need to drive an economic recovery pathway for Bihar which is in-sync with sustainable development priorities and make economy strong enough to withstand any sudden shocks (pandemic or climatic) and bringing in social benefits. The discussion aimed to disseminate the study findings from CBGA through policy priority analysis in financing of climate change mitigation actions- that is, clean energy financing in Bihar. Presiding over the discussion, Dr Prabhat P Ghosh emphasised on collective actions by all the tiers of governance towards the agenda of green growth and the need for integrated planning for effective implementation.
Associate professor from Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance at ADRI- Dr Sudhanshu Kumar, gave inputs about how to imbibe effective public finance deliver mechanism such as ensuring adequacy for public finances, implementation efficiency and at the same instance adhering to sustainable development goals for the state. Dr Jyotsna Goel, Thematic Lead (Climate Finance) at CBGA Delhi emphasized a need of development of framework at state level for creation of green jobs from the renewable energy sector and in clean technology industries. Vivek Tejaswi, Deputy Director at the Center for Studies on Environment and Climate highlighted the role of budgeting tool for greening the public finance management system in Bihar and aligning it with green growth objectives.
Some of the key recommendations from the roundtable were –
- Bihar’s green budgets can play an effective role for greening the public finance system in Bihar and it reiterates that governance to manage the financial needs for the sectoral interventions;
- State can develop a framework for creation of livelihood from Decentralised Renewable Energy (DRE) technologies and capacity building of local population for livelihood in clean technologies;
- A dedicated strategy for holistic planning for climate financing needs to be rolled out instead of restricting only on pilot projects approach and moving in sporadic manner.
Representatives from the relevant sector like - SIDBI, Bihar Skill Development Mission, State Pollution Control Board, RTI, WRI, CEEW, SSEF, and various other think-tank’s and CSO’s were present in the discussion.