Between a rock and a hard place: unpacking India’s engagement in UNFCCC transparency arrangements

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) increasingly relies on elaborate transparency arrangements – in the form of regular reporting of information by countries and a review of that information. Despite the ubiquity of claims about the benefits of such transparency, few empirical studies have examined how engagement in climate transparency arrangements works in practice, domestically. This article examines the extent and nature of India’s engagement in UNFCCC transparency arrangements, by drawing on interviews, a focus group discussion and document analysis. This article proposes a typology of three diverse perspectives – ranging from ‘embracing’ to ‘strategic’ to ‘dismissive’ – that shape and help to explain India’s engagement with global transparency obligations. The analysis shows how India’s engagement reflects a mix of all three. India has engaged extensively with UNFCCC transparency requirements, while seeking simultaneously to strategically align such engagement with domestic priorities, but has also openly questioned the utility of ever more detailed reporting. The typology presented here provides a novel perspective on explaining developing country engagement in global climate transparency arrangements, one that goes beyond explanations centred only on capacity or technical constraints. In doing so, it also highlights how a country like India finds itself between a rock and a hard place, as it struggles to shape engagement with multilateral transparency obligations in a manner that can but often may not align with domestic priorities. India’s engagement with global transparency arrangements reflects a complex mix of embracing, strategic and dismissive perspectives on whether and how to engage.These three diverse perspectives on engagement shape both the content and the process of generating India’s transparency reports.Assumed benefits of engaging in global transparency arrangements do not necessarily materialize, despite domestic efforts to strategically tailor engagement to align with national priorities.Engagement with UNFCCC transparency arrangements is not only impeded by capacity constraints, but also by the lack of alignment with domestic priorities and needs.Discussions in the UNFCCC context should explore reform options to make transparency more aligned with priorities in diverse developing countries. India’s engagement with global transparency arrangements reflects a complex mix of embracing, strategic and dismissive perspectives on whether and how to engage. These three diverse perspectives on engagement shape both the content and the process of generating India’s transparency reports. Assumed benefits of engaging in global transparency arrangements do not necessarily materialize, despite domestic efforts to strategically tailor engagement to align with national priorities. Engagement with UNFCCC transparency arrangements is not only impeded by capacity constraints, but also by the lack of alignment with domestic priorities and needs. Discussions in the UNFCCC context should explore reform options to make transparency more aligned with priorities in diverse developing countries.