While environmental regulation is the principal responsibility of environmental ministries, their locus standi in terms of implementation is limited as much of the implementation lies with other line ministries/departments and public agencies. Hence, it is essential that ‘environment’ is mainstreamed across ministries, departments, and sectors.

A growing body of literature views ‘green budgeting’ as a mainstreaming tool for environmental sustainability measures. Annual budget processes offer a high level of periodicity as budget-related planning is not only done annually but also throughout the year. Through a review of existing practices, the primary goal of this policy brief is to sensitize stakeholders on green budgeting as a policy tool that can be used worldwide. Green budgeting is still an evolving policy innovation, and many methodologies are being developed and applied to mainstream the environment across various policy interventions. This paper advocates for a multidimensional model of green budgeting to contribute to environmentally and climate-sensitive planning, resource allocation, and implementation. This approach allows the flexibility to add other lenses while using green budgeting as a self-assessment tool.

Authors

Dr Shailly Kedia; Palak Khanna; Madhuparna Maiti