(De)Constructing India's and China's Energy and Climate Change Policy Choices: Interfaces of Co-operation

India and China collectively represents an important economic polarity in the contemporary world. Together with substantial economic growth and improvement in other developmental indicators, they provide increased stability to the global economic and political order. As expected, a large part of this substantial economic growth is driven by substantial energy needs. Although there has been substantial decoupling of energy and economic growth, the nature and character of this decoupling is a matter of concern for policymakers and politicians alike. The more significant bulwark that is navigating choices for energy has been due to the concern for the environment- local and global (climate change). It would be interesting to assess these choices (energy and environmental; particularly with response to challenges posed due to climate change) between India and China in a comparative framework. Through studying recent energy and climate change and related policy documents in India and China, this paper seeks to answer the following questions: (i) Development of a comparative analytic framework and its various dimensions, to critically assess energy and climate change policies.(ii) What lessons can be learnt from the recent experiences in the two countries? (iii)What are the critical areas/dimensions of development co-operation between India and China; particularly in the domain of energy and climate change sectors? This paper aims to contextualize contemporary debate on India and China's energy and climate change policy and aims to contribute to the literature that attempts to characterize the future role in arresting incremental damages due to the contemporary climate change through increased GHG (Green House Gas) emissions.