Inclusive energy transitions are key to achieving sustainable development and climate goals. The concept of just transitions around coal in the context of energy supply and mitigation have gained discursive traction in recent times and further move forward towards the people-centred transition approaches. However, these discourses dominantly focus more on energy supply and household energy in terms of cooking and lighting. Other sectors such as agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprises, and transport are not prominent in the socioeconomic narratives around energy transitions narratives. There is thus a scope for factoring inclusivity in demand side interventions more strongly. Further, demographics and socio-economic characteristics including gender dimensions play a vital role in the decision making of an economic agent and thus in turn, in implementing any policy intervention, focusing on demand side.

Inclusiveness cannot be achieved without addressing the supply and demand sides simultaneously. Thus, factoring inclusion of the demand side interventions in energy transitions is an emerging area and needs to be understood better. Drawing from the experience of three energy demand sectors of agriculture, MSMEs, and transport in G20 countries, this policy brief attempts to strengthen the case for the energy transitions narrative to focus on inclusive clean energy transitions from demand side perspective.

Keywords : energy transitions; G20; demand side measures; SDGs

Authors : Ishan Khetan, Saheli Das, Shailly Kedia, G Mini, Rashmi Murali, P Anima, Rumpa Banerjee, Sanchit Saran Agarwal, Nivedita Cholayil, Jayanta Mitra, Arpita Elisheba Victor, Saswata Chaudhury

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