New Delhi, Jan. 14 -- India is building what looks like an impressive climate finance architecture. Regulators are demanding disclosures everywhere. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that banks must report climate risks. Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) rulesrequire mandatory sustainability reports. Green bonds need verification.

On paper, it all sounds serious. There's just one problem. Nobody agrees on what 'green' actually means.

The recently released draft framework of India's climate finance taxonomy by the finance ministry, aimed at anchoring our nascent system, is supposed to fix this. Such a taxonomy is meant to define precisely what counts as climate-friendly and what doesn't.

Instead, the draft reads more ...