Climate change preparedness in India

The story: The COVID-19 pandemic was a forewarning of the other under-addressed global disasters looming on the horizon, particularly climate change.

Climate change preparedness in India

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• The story: The COVID-19 pandemic was a forewarning of the other under-addressed global disasters looming on the horizon, particularly climate change. The onset of climate change impacts and disasters are an even bigger threat to public welfare and health than the ongoing pandemic.
• Exposed structures: It took a pandemic to expose the fundamental weaknesses and lack of preparedness in the existing healthcare system worldwide, and especially in India. It led to human tragedy on an unimaginable scale, despite many scientists having been issuing warnings on the eventuality of pandemics.

• What climate change will bring: It is expected to have a long-term and persistent adverse impact on livelihoods and many key economic sectors. To avoid getting caught at a point where developing countries like India have to make hard choices between their economic growth and public welfare, the importance of understanding impacts and being prepared is crucial.

1. In the Global Climate Risk Index 2021, India ranked as the 7th most affected country with the highest absolute losses in terms of purchasing power parity in 2019.
2. The climate risk is also seen by the Indian government - a 2020 Ministry of Earth Sciences study projected increasingly intense and variable monsoons, heat stress, and extreme weather events.
3. The study concluded that these will highly impact human health and well-being, and damage the country's critical ecosystems and infrastructure. The question that arises is, are we doing enough in the present to cope in the future?

• India's commitments: Till 2020, India was the only country among the G20 countries that had 2-degree compatible climate commitments. Even though India's per capita carbon footprint is a small fraction of the global average, India's ambitious climate and energy targets were clear.

1. India is taking the lead in mobilising others for implementing climate interventions, through two international initiatives - the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
2. While India's climate actions have largely focused on the energy sector, with an increasing focus recently on the transportation sector, it is now imperative for India to develop roadmaps for transitioning to low-carbon resilient pathways for manufacturing industries, critical infrastructure, urban habitats, agriculture, and for development in coastal and mountainous regions.

• After the pandemic: It is critical to take scientific expertise into account while determining climate events and devising a coping response. It is also essential to have an institutional framework in place which allows for inter-agency and inter-state decision-making, as well as international cooperation for sharing resources and expertise.
• Biden's about turn: With the US re-entering the Climate Accord following President Joe Biden's election victory, international cooperation for climate change has started to ramp up. At the US Leadership Climate Summit held in mid-April 2021, the US announced its intent to double its climate finance flows by 2024 and tripling its adaptation finance, focused on climate-smart development and sustainable infrastructure for developing nations. India announced a renewed bilateral cooperation with the US for mobilising finance and accelerating clean energy deployment under the Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership.
• The money part: Mobilizing international private finance is crucial. Private finance is the panacea for enabling ambitious climate actions, but there is very little of it on the ground in developing countries for sectors besides energy. India has started conducting state-wise vulnerability assessments. These should be collated and updated in a central database and made accessible to the industries and the general public.
• Summary: India should capitalise on the emerging global cooperation to ensure sustainable financing for long-term climate actions, and go for a green recovery. Instead of joining the 'net-zero' race at the cost of its development, India can focus on putting forth implementable and increasingly ambitious climate actions for key sectors.

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