“Domesticating” Climate Change: The Intertwining of Climate and Development

About the Lecture:

Climate change hit the headlines as a global collective action problem. But increasingly, in India as elsewhere, it is becoming clear that meaningful action will require “domesticating” climate change—internalizing and relating climate concerns to domestic socio-economic ones. Will this process lead to the submergence of climate concerns under a wave of more urgent and tangible issues? Or can it lead to greater political impetus, a widening circle of allies, and more creative solutions? In this lecture, Professor Dubash will examine the slow domestication of climate change in India through narrative shifts, institutional embedding, strategic direction setting, and geopolitical alignment. The outcomes are by no means predictable, but rather, the outcome of political processes of mobilization and coalition building. These outcomes—across sectors and states—will shape the future of Indian efforts at low-carbon and resilient development.

About the Speaker:

Navroz K. Dubash is a Professor of Public and International Affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University. His work explores emergent patterns of climate governance suitable to meet the twin challenges of the climate crisis and unmet development aspirations. Prior to Princeton, he spent fifteen years at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. He is currently co-Editor in Chief of Climate Policy and has published widely on national climate policy, international cooperation, energy transitions, and air quality. Dubash has served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), most recently as Coordinating Lead Author for the Sixth Assessment Report, and as a member of the steering committee for the UNEP Emissions Gap Report. He has advised the Government of India over the last decade as a member of advisory committees on climate change, energy, and air and water policy, and coordinated a team to draft India’s Long-Term Low Emissions Development Strategy.

to be followed by a discussion with

Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar (Award-winning Science and Environment Journalist; CASI Fall 2025 Visiting Fellow)

Sanya Carley (Mark Alan Hughes Faculty Director, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and Presidential Distinguished Professor of Energy Policy and City Planning, Weitzman School of Design, Penn)

Host or Publisher Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) at the University of Pennsylvania