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In this paper, we examine whether geopolitical risk influences environmental degradation, while controlling for non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth and trade openness, using a quarterly dataset from 1985Q1 to 2019Q4. The choice of India as a case study is based on a number of reasons. India is a developing country, which produces approximately 3.2% of global GDP. Also, India produces almost 17.7% of the world population. The country also emits about 6.8% of global carbon emissions, and according to the 2020 report of the consulting firm Eurasia, India is ranked fifth in terms of geopolitical risk. This study adds to the existing literature by using the quantile-on-quantile (QQR) regression to examine the effect of geopolitical risk on environmental degradation, as well as highlighting the implications of geopolitical risk on environmental sustainability. Based on empirical estimation, we find that geopolitical risk increases and decreases carbon emissions in India. That is, geopolitical risk increases environmental degradation at middle quantiles and decreases environmental degradation at lower and higher quantiles. In addition, we find that non-renewable energy consumption, economic growth and trade openness impede environmental quality in India. Thus, we are of the opinion that policymakers, when making policy decisions on environmental quality, should factor in geopolitical risk in two areas, mitigation and channel of escalation, among other policy suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1970s, and especially following the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, climate change has become an area of high politics, engaging the whole world at the international and diplomatic level. What matters, though, is how this translates into tangible policies at national and local levels, and how these different scales interact. Highlighting India’s unique position in international climate negotiations, this article first scrutinises various official statements and documents of the Government of India (GOI) on climate change and puts them into an analytical framework that demonstrates continuities, but also significant recent shifts. Investigating the reasons for such modifying trends and examining their consequences, the article then suggests that partly owing to recent changes in global and (geo)political contexts, but also due to an Indian re-thinking of responsibility for addressing global climate change, there is a significant new development. This seems to augur a South Asian ‘silent revolution’ in green technologies, a prudent, economically and ecologically beneficial step, not only for India but possibly a sustainable global model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]