While the impact of the coronavirus is first and foremost on our near and dear ones, it will have a profound impact on all aspects of society.

I have been thinking about how it would impact energy and climate policy in particular. Here are a few questions I will be tracking:

(Note before I list out the questions: I will use this thread to share anything relevant to these questions. If you are interested, I request you to respond with anything I may have missed, or news, or any responses to the questions).

1. What will be the impact of the pandemic on energy industry supply chains (example solar PV panels or minerals for batteries), and therefore the expansion of renewable energy capacity in India?

2. How will the coronavirus-led economic recession impact fossil fuel subsidies and taxes, in particular subsidies on cooking and taxes on transport fuels? (India has already seen an increase in excise duties on transport fuels in the context of falling global crude prices).

3. What will be the financial impact of the virus led-shutdowns on power distribution and producing companies? Will this lead to faster reforms, or will the battered state of the economy mean that reforms will be further delayed to the detriment of the taxpayer?

4. What will be the impact of the pandemic-led recession on the automotive sector sales, and therefore on electric vehicle uptake? Will it change the trend of EV sales within the automotive space?

5. Public transport (particularly metro rail) has been disrupted in this pandemic. Many essential services employees are finding themselves stranded. Due to new norms on social distancing, will more people go for private transport? Will sales of scooters increase as a result?

6. Strictly in the context of the ongoing pandemic (ignoring costs and climate concerns), does renewable energy present benefits over fossil fuels? Is there anything inherent about it (resilience, fuel supply chains etc) that makes RE preferable?

7. How will global supply chains change after this pandemic, and what impact will it have on trade and therefore transport? Will industrial supply chains begin to localise?

8. Post the pandemic, how will cities, spaces and buildings be redesigned to minimise touch and travel? What impact does this have on energy demand?

9. Will the economic chaos as a result of the pandemic take the wind out of climate policy sails? What kind of politics will emerge, and what climate impact will it have?

10. Will the 'work from home' and 'this meeting could have been an email' trend last beyond the lockdown? Will we be back to the usual ways of doing things? What impact will that have on transport and building energy demand?

And now for the response threads. Here's an early thread on the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on the renewable power industry in India. https://twitter.com/siddharth3/status/1244541238272856064

Unsurprisingly, power demand and emissions have fallen during the lockdown. Interestingly, while overall generation of power has fallen, renewable energy generation largely remains at similar levels. Thermal (coal) power generation has taken the hit. https://carbontracker.in/ 

A thread dedicated to power demand, discoms and power systems in the pandemic. https://twitter.com/siddharth3/status/1245689072317685761