Climate challenge

Even as the Russia-Ukraine war is keeping the world on tenterhooks, climate change continues to be a major global challenge that is not drawing adequate attention. The second instalment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II report on ‘Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’ has stated that globally, heat and humidity will create conditions beyond human tolerance if emissions are not rapidly eliminated, with India being among the places that will suffer these intolerable conditions. The report has warned that climate-related risks to agriculture and food systems in Asia will progressively escalate with the changing climate. It foresees disruptions to the production of staple crops such as rice and maize in India, leading to price spikes that can threaten food affordability, food security and economic growth. The sea-level rise and warming of oceans will make coastal cities even more vulnerable to extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves and floods. The writing is already on the wall: Maharashtra and Odisha together accounted for around 600 deaths due to floods, lightning, thunderstorms and cyclonic storms in 2021.

The climate crisis will test India’s adaptive capacity to the hilt. The famed resilience of the agriculture sector will come under severe strain, with water scarcity assuming alarming proportions. Also under scrutiny will be the five goals announced by PM Modi at CoP26 in November last year: net-zero carbon emissions by 2070; 500 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030; fulfilling 50 per cent of the country’s energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030; reducing total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes; and lowering carbon intensity by 45 per cent. These goals are rather ambitious, virtually impossible to achieve without requisite financial support.

The Union Budget 2022-23 has been a disappointment on this front. The budgetary allocation for a statutory body, the Commission for Air Quality Management, has been reduced. The funds for some environmental organisations and regulatory boards have also shrunk. Such cost-cutting raises doubts about India’s commitment to clean energy and climate action. We won’t become future-ready unless there is an all-round sense of urgency about mitigating climate risks.

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