India may face 24.7% GDP loss by 2070 due to climate related disruptions: Yadav
India could lose 24.7 per cent of the GDP by 2070 due to climate-related disruptions, said Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday at the World Sustainable Summit organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
Yadav said the Global South was driving the climate agenda, and the world now looks to India as a leader.
“In 2020 alone, India slashed its GHG emissions by 7.93 per cent. The Global South, including India, is essential in shaping climate discourse, as it faces the brunt of climate change impacts while also offering solutions rooted in sustainable development practices,” he said.
The minister called on developed countries to honour their financial and technological commitments, especially in fulfilling their obligations under the Paris Agreement. He also underscored the need for enhanced international cooperation in strengthening Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), ensuring they address both the challenges and opportunities of climate action.
He emphasised that true sustainability can only be achieved when all forms of life are considered equally important and when environmental policies account for the protection and restoration of wildlife and biodiversity.
Pointing to the threat of man-animal conflict, Yadav said, “When wildlife increases in the forest it is healthy for the environment but when it increases in towns, the ecology gets unsustainable.”
Outlining India’s long-term vision to become a developed nation by 2047, with a target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070, Yadav said there has been a 36 per cent reduction in GDP emission intensity between 2005 and 2020.
He called for reforms in global governance, urging the international community to place equity and justice at the heart of climate negotiations.
He referred to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Adaptation Gap Report, which highlights the urgent need to scale up adaptation efforts to cope with rising climate impacts. Yadav called for more robust financial support for adaptation to climate change so that most vulnerable regions are able to implement solutions that build resilience and safeguard livelihoods.
Referring to the COP29 decision where countries agreed to mobilise $300 billion per year by 2035 under the new collective quantified goal on climate finance as inadequate, Yadav said this would lock developing countries into a cycle of underfunded climate action.
“The proposed finance framework undermines equity and lets developed countries evade their obligation under Article 9 of the Paris Agreement. Adaptation finance has thus far been quite inadequate,” he said.
