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Toward inverting environmental injustice in Delhi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Rohit Azad  and
Shouvik Chakraborty Open the ORCID record for Shouvik Chakraborty [Opens in a new window]
Rohit Azad*
Affiliation:
Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
Shouvik Chakraborty
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA
*
Rohit Azad, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, SSS-II Building, New Delhi 110067, India. Email: rohit.jnu@gmail.com
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Abstract

We propose a carbon tax policy for Delhi—the most polluted capital globally—which will fundamentally change the energy mix of Delhi’s economy toward clean, green energy and guarantee universal access to electricity, transport, and food, up to a certain amount. Any carbon mitigation strategy needs to alter our dependence on fossil fuels, requiring a systemic overhaul of its energy mix. Implementing a carbon tax will mitigate emissions and mobilise revenue for our proposed redistributive program: Right to Food, Energy, and Travel (RFET). The policy is designed to advocate for the ‘poor over the rich’ to compensate for the ‘rich hiding behind’ the poor by emitting the majority of carbon and pollutants. Using input–output analysis, we estimate the class-wise distribution of carbon emissions in Delhi. We find that the necessary tax would be US$112.5 per metric ton of carbon dioxide in order for this program to work. The free entitlement of fuel and electricity per household comes out to be 2040 kWh per annum, and there is an annual universal travel pass of US$75 per person for use in public transport and an annual per capita availability of food of US$205.

Keywords

Q43Q48Q52Q58Asiacarbon taxclimate changeDelhienergy policyinequalityright to energyurban pollution
Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 32 , Issue 2: Configuring the Green New Deal , June 2021 , pp. 209 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2021

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