Action On Climate Change Front Cannot Be Postponed If Saving The Planet Is The Priority

Climate change will have an adverse impact on agriculture, food security and energy security as climate impact on water resources can undermine the two dominant forms of power generation in India - hydropower and thermal power generation

Climate change and its devastation and hardships are happening all over. It has become a global challenge as it impacts the day-to-day life of people, agriculture, physical infrastructure, habitats, health of human beings and animals and result in floods, pollute rivers and water and cause severe heat.

Climate risk is a greater challenge for any government if emissions of green gas are further allowed to be generated with the burning of fossil fuels. It needs to go for adaptation and mitigation measures, which need additional investments to create alternative energies and spend on clean energy in power, electricity-led vehicles and mitigation measures to avoid loss in agriculture and better medical facilities.

The World Bank group on June 19, 2923, stated that India is already experiencing a warming climate that could lead to unusual and unprecedented spells of hot weather. It also talks of under-4°C warming, while the west coast and southern states are projected to shift to new high temperature climate regimes with significant impact on agriculture Changing rainfall patterns also changed and there has been a steady decline in rainfall since the 1950s, while there has have been an increase in the frequency of heavy rains.

India will have greater difficulty in ground water as already 15 per cent of these resources are overexploited even without a climate change. This implies that an efficient use of ground water resources will need to be incentivised.

At 2.5°C warming we will have the danger of glaciers melting and loss of snow covered over the Himalayas, which are expected to threaten the stability and reliability of north India's primarily glacier fed rivers. There is also the danger of sea level rise, particularly in coastal areas which can cause tropical cyclones and riverine flooding.

Climate change will have an adverse impact on agriculture, food security and energy security as climate impact on water resources can undermine the two dominant forms of power generation in India - hydropower and thermal power generation both of which depend on adequate water.

Climate change is expected to have major health impacts and give rise to malnutrition and related health disorders. Heat waves are likely to result in a very substantial rise in morality and death and injuries from extreme weather events are likely to increase.

Aware of the dangers of climate change, the Union Government has undertaken many key initiatives to handle the situation like International Solar Alliance, ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid’, Swachh Bharat Mission, LIFE -Lifestyle for Environment, ‘Say no to single use plastic’, Sustainable Food systems and schemes to reduce waste and adoption of Healthy Lifestyles. The government has invested heavily in alternative energy capacity creation by way of solar and wind. It is committed to reach 500 CW in non-fossil energy capacity by 2030. The country is already working towards generating more than 50 per cent of the energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030 apart from reducing total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now to 2030. India is well towards its target to reduce the carbon intensity of the economy by 45 per cent by the same period.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been reiterating the commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2070. No government can avoid or postpone the climate challenges and needs to immediately take measures as they are committed to achieve net zero level. Any further postponement of committed target of achieving certain milestones in combating climate change adaptation and mitigation measures will have severe consequences on global as well as at the country level.

Accordingly this year's "Emissions Gap Report 2024" of United Nations Environment Programme released recently captions the report with a remark "No more hot air please"

With a massive gap between rhetoric and reality, countries draft new climate commitments. At the current level of commitments, the Paris Agreement target of holding global warming to 1.5°C will be looking very challenging and may be dead within few years and 2°C will take place in the intensive care unit unless nations accelerate action now and show a massive increase in ambition in the new pledges in their new nationally determined contributions (NDC). These are to be submitted early next year ahead of COO 30 in Brazil.

According to Inger Anderson, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme "Essentially, we need global mobilisation on a scale and pace never seen before."

It is the responsibility on all nations to make the transformation to net-zero transformation sooner the better as every fraction of degree avoided courts in terms of lives saved, economies protected, damages avoided, biodiversity conserved and the ability to rapidly bring down any temperature overshoot.

Hence Anderson’s plea to every nation: "No more hot air, please".

Every responsible citizen and nation understands the dangers of global warming, wildfires, heat waves, storms and droughts and the compelling urgency to evolve measures that can ensure a low-carbon, sustainable and prosperous future.

The report mentions that the global gas emissions set a new record of 57.1 GtCO²e in 2023, a 1.3 per cent increase from the 2022 levels. There are large disparities between the current per capita and historic emissions of major emitters and world regions. Implied emissions trajectories of the G20 members towards net zero show reasons for concern. The emissions gap in 2039 and 2035 remains large compared both with pathways limiting warming to 1.5°C and 2'C.

The ‘Emissions Gap Report 2024’ has stressed that immediate action matters and along with other nations, even G20 has a key responsibility in closing the emissions gap. The time available for nations is too short and all will have to work collectively by boosting policies, supporting and financing to reach net zero target; the earlier the better.

(The author is former Chairman & Managing Director of Indian Overseas Bank)