Today climate change and development have become inextricably linked and hence we are looking at the best policy approach. India’s annual emissions are the fourth largest in the world, but cumulative CO2 emissions over time is just 3.5%, but per capita GHG emission is just half the world average. But we cannot divide the carbon budget on a per capita basis, it is not that simple. There are differences in people’s needs and levels of development and hence difference in capacity, vulnerability and responsibility-to simplify, we cannot stop necessity emission by halting cooking in a poor family, but surely can tax luxury emissions. Moreover, today we need to think about achieving development with climate and not one after the other. India began with the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in 2008 which focused initially on adaptation issues and not emission goals. Today we have targets:a) Reduction of 33-35% in greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 2030, using 2005 levels as a baseline b)Commitment to increasing non-fossil fuel energy capacity to 500 GW c) To achieve net-zero emissions by 2070 and more. All this is fine, but we need to have a focus on the Climate-Development linkages. Emission trajectories do affect patterns of urbanisation and manufacturing and the scale for India created would be different. To explain, we looked at urbanisation of Bangalore without looking at the city’s Water Capacity and we have a crisis there. Hence Development Planning has to be Climate Linked and there is no option now.
Agriculture is one of the first sectors to adapt to Climate Change. Indian farmers are adapting to climate change by taking actions like shifting sowing dates, changing crop varieties, increasing irrigation, adopting conservation in agriculture practices, implementing water harvesting techniques, diversifying crops, and focusing on improved water management to combat the impacts of erratic rainfall and rising temperatures on their yields. Moving beyond sector to making the Indian Economy into a low carbon one is a daunting task of delinking economic development from creating as well as burning fossil fuels. This huge task has to be State led and disruptive. The Indian Carbon Market Framework has two key mechanism – Compliance mechanism which aims to address the emissions from its energy use and industrial sectors and offset mechanism to incentivize the voluntary actions from entities for GHG reduction, thus providing a comprehensive approach to decarbonisation of the economy. A recent praiseworthy feature is the inclusion of green sectors in the PLI scheme introduced in 2020 where manufacturing of solar modules, electric vehicles, advanced battery technologies and green hydrogen all get incentives. Our concern is that Climate and Development Synergies are explored in India, sectorally, rather than a strategic and deliberate effort at low carbon and climate resilient development policy across the Indian Economy and we are confident that such a Policy can be developed.
Finally, we conclude with the Supreme Court judgement on protection against Climate Change;
“A Division Bench led by former Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, in M.K. Ranjitsinh v Union of India, ruled that the Constitution confers the right against the adverse effects of climate change. This right, the bench held, flows from Articles 48A (a Directive Principle of State Policy which states that the State should endeavour to protect and improve the environment), 51A(g) (a fundamental duty on citizens to protect and improve the natural environment), 21 and 14. In M.C. Mehta (1986), the Court had recognised the right to live in a healthy environment as part of Article 21”