New research investigates neglected aspect of climate change in India

The three-year research project forms part of the interdisciplinary research being conducted by Wolfson's South Asia Research Cluster and is co-sponsored by the UK Department for International Development and the Economic and Social Research Council.

In India, two-thirds of the economy and 90% of all jobs are unregistered. Yet the impact of such informal economies on climate change has been largely ignored.

Combining policy, science and technology, labour studies, and other disciplines, Professor Harriss-White's research team will develop methods to model the CO2 emmissions from production in the informal economy, focusing on rice production and distribution. 

Project leader Barbara Harriss-White said: "Informal economies have been largely ignored in the debates about climate change."

"We hope to develop new models that can be used to investigate the environmental effects of production and distribution systems that operate in the informal economy outside the reach of state regulation. We will also look at the impact on jobs of technology that is more environmentally-friendly".

Involving researchers from the Institute of Human Development, New Delhi; Madras School of Economics; Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jindal Global University, the project will engage with key stakeholders and communicate its results in India, the UK, and globally. This is planned through a series of workshops, and a website allowing others to apply their model to different technologies, amongst other means. 

Professor Harriss-White will be discussing the project at Wolfson College with Dr Alfy Gathorne-Hardy at 5pm on 25 January as part of the South Asia Work in Progress Forum. Full details

Further details of Professor Harriss-White's research and other interdisciplinary research projects are also available from the South Asia Research Cluster projects page.

Tweet