Although India is part of the climate solution, yet it continues to face the adverse consequences of climate change and grapples with an existing environmental crisis
India has been committed to the global fight against climate change since it became an international concern, actively engaging in multinational negotiations under the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Since joining the UNFCCC in 1993, India has proactively upheld its commitments to multilateralism by ratifying the groundbreaking Kyoto Protocol in 1992 and the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015. The country has prioritised the UNFCCC processes, declaring Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), and fulfilling reporting obligations under the Paris Agreement.
This includes submitting its National Communications (NATCOM), Biennial Update Reports (BUR), and Long-term Low-Carbon Strategy. Recognising that addressing the climate change problem requires global cooperation and observing a 1-degree rise in global temperatures today with minimal responsibility, India has taken independent yet enhanced actions to decouple its economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions.
As per the recent Biennial Update Report of 2021, India is among the few countries already on track to overachieve its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets set as part of the Paris Agreement, with its GDP emission intensity reduced by 24 percent from 2005 to 2016. During COP26 (2021) in Glasgow, Scotland, India announced its updated NDC, or climate pledges for 2030, further strengthening its commitment to addressing the climate conundrum.
The pledges include enhancing its renewable energy capacity to 500 gigawatts, meeting 50 percent of its energy requirements through renewable sources, reducing its carbon footprint by 1 billion tonnes through forest cover expansion, decreasing its carbon intensity by 45 percent, and achieving net zero by 2070.
India aims to better adapt to climate impacts through investments in vulnerable sectors, including agriculture, water resources, and disaster management, and to mobilise domestic as well as international climate finance.
This year, COP 28 in Dubai takes centre stage, focusing on devising measures to curtail emissions, adapt to the escalating impacts of climate change, and extend financial and technological aid to developing countries. Within this global dialogue, India emerges as a leading voice representing the Global South at COP28 events.
With all eyes on India's ability to navigate this hyper-growth phase, the nation holds the potential to shape the trajectory of global climate action. Although India has been a part of the solution and is doing more than its fair share to address climate change, yet it continues to face the adverse consequences of climate change and grapples with an existing environmental crisis.
A report by the Centre for Science and Environment has said that India faced extreme weather on 86 percent of days from January to September 2023, causing extensive damage to crops, infrastructure, livelihoods, and human and animal lives. Climate-induced disasters have been on the rise in the country during the past few decades. As per the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), India has witnessed 573 climate and water-related disasters, claiming over 130,000 lives between 1971 and 2021.
As per the report by the National Institute of Disaster Management, India has experienced a total of 1058 incidences of climate-related disasters between 1995 and 2020, which include 347 floods, 48 cyclones, 176 droughts, 253 heatwaves, and 234 cold waves.
In the year 2023 itself, India has been experiencing disasters linked to climate change through short-term variability manifesting in extreme weather events such as floods in Assam in the Northeast region before the monsoon season, Glacial Lake Outburst Flow (GLOF) events in Himachal and Sikkim in the Himalayan region, and as we speak, Tamil Nadu in South India reels under extreme winds and flash floods due to the tropical cyclone Michaung.
India has taken several initiatives to combat climate impacts on its land and people while exemplifying its commitment to building climate and disaster resilience in the country and achieving mitigation targets pledged under the NDC.
We are implementing several programmes to tackle climate change as part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), which comprises missions in specific areas of solar energy, energy efficiency, water, sustainable agriculture, the Himalayan ecosystem, sustainable habitat, green India, and strategic knowledge for climate change. States have also prepared their State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) in line with the NAPCC, considering the sub-national issues relating to climate change.
These SAPCCs outline sector-specific and cross-sectoral priority actions, including adaptation and climate-resilient infrastructure. India has also set up the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) to support adaptation activities in the regions that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Under NAFCC, 30 projects have been sanctioned across the country till date.
Further, India has set up comprehensive governance, policy, and planning structures for disaster management in the country through the establishment of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), which has issued several disaster-specific guidelines for managing extreme weather-related disasters such as cyclones, floods, and heat waves in the country.
The NDMA also laid out the National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) to assist all stakeholders in disaster risk management of various hazards related to climate change. Furthermore, advanced early warning systems are being implemented by Indian Meteorological Department to facilitate anticipatory action and timely evacuation during extreme climate events.
Apart from resolutely addressing climate change domestically, India has taken a leadership role in addressing global climate change issues by launching international coalitions such as the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). New initiatives under CDRI and ISA, viz. Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) and Green Grids Initiative—One Sun, One World, One Grid (GGI-OSOWOG), have been launched.
Along with Sweden, India co-leads the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) for the voluntary low-carbon transition of hard-to-abate sectors. Although these efforts towards protecting the climate and managing natural disasters have made a big difference, much more needs to be done to ensure a better future for our future generations.
India's eyes are locked on COP28, hoping all nations double down on cutting greenhouse gases. India intends to uphold the basic principles of equity and common-but-differentiated capabilities at the COP28. India would look towards vetting the draft report on the first ever ‘Global Stocktake’ which is set to conclude at COP28.
Global stocktake is a process for countries and stakeholders to see where they stand collectively in making progress towards meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The report would be leveraged by India to accelerate actions for ambitions and targets under the current NDC and strengthen its climate policies for commitments in the next round of NDCs.
India, dealing with the brunt of climate impacts, expects to push the agenda on ‘Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)’at COP28 as laid out in Article 7.1 of Paris Agreement. It is essential for India to strengthen resilience, enhance its adaptive capacities and reduce vulnerability to climate change, with a focus on sectors such as water, food and agriculture, cities and infrastructure, oceans and coastal ecosystems, etc.
Which are highly exposed to the impacts of climate change in the country. Furthermore, India also expects to renew and augment its access to International Finance for adaptation through international financing mechanisms such as Green Climate Fund (GCF), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other multilateral and regional banks such as World Bank, ADB, etc.
India will also be campaigning for the recently formed ‘Loss & Damage Fund', which is a global financial package to ensure the rescue and rehabilitation of countries facing the cascading effects of climate change.
India has been recurrent extreme weather events linked to climate change, causing entire ecosystems to be destroyed. Upholding the principle of Polluters to Pay package, whose needs run into trillions of dollars, would help India to demand compensation from the polluters for the damaged ecosystem and related services.
Another area where India would also leverage COP28 to deliberate upon the Green Budget and Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) to develop a domestic carbon credit market, which would help bring in private investment required to achieve its climate pledges in a cost-effective manner. Overall, India’s purpose to crusade at the COP28 would be to provide its next generation with a ‘Cleaner and Greener Earth’.
(Amit Patjoshi, CEO, Palladium India.)