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Climate change is a global threat to our natural world including humans. The contribution of humans to climate change, which is known as human-induced climate change, is leaving the entire world in lurch. The effects of climate change are being experienced by the entire world due to humans’ inconsiderate nature, especially their greedy lifestyle. Frequent droughts, floods, heat and cold waves, increased forest fires, changing patterns of cyclones and their intensity are the resultant outcomes of human-induced climate change.
The basic aspect to measure climate change is the long-term increment of temperature over a region. The globe has experienced more than 1°C warming for the last 100 years and this warming will continue to increase if we do not adopt new policies in order to reduce the warming. The general circulation models (also known as global climate models) predict the warming will go beyond 4°C by the year 2100. This warming is almost the same for most of the regions in the world with a slight deviation. The resultant warming of climate change is more severe over countries that lie in the mid-latitudes and high latitudes compared to the tropical latitudes, though the regions of tropical belts naturally experience the higher temperatures.
CLIMATE LITERACY AND CLIMATE ACTION
Research studies show that the countries of Europe, etc., have taken many measures by introducing and implementing policies to reduce warming by controlling emissions. Globally, there is a rapid improvement in the awareness of climate change which is witnessed by the increased number of institutions offering climate change education, number of research publications emerging, and increment in the amount of funding for climate change research. Vital elements such as climate literacy and climate action are at the forefront globally in bringing awareness and taking necessary steps to tackle the notorious effects of climate change. Clean energy, energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, forestry management, climate finance, etc., have emerged as the new solutions for climate change problems and are being put forward globally for sustainable development. At this juncture there is only one choice before the world and that is development without disrupting the climate. Controlling emissions and finding new technologies with low carbon emissions are the primary goals in front of the world so that the development is also sustainable.
INDIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Left, Fig. 1: India monthly temperatures rise in °C (per decade) till the year 2100 with reference to 1985 to 2014, if no new policies were adopted to reduce the emissions; Right, Fig. 2: India monthly rainfall change in % (per decade) till the year 2100 with reference to 1985 to 2014, if no new policies were adopted to reduce the emissions
Images Courtesy: Lakshmi Kumar et al, 2023, Global and Planetary Change, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104137)
India, being a rapidly developing country adapting world class technologies for its growth is not exceptional to the notorious impact of climate change. As per the report, ‘India 2023: An assessment of extreme weather events’ by Down To Earth, the disasters resulted in 2923 human mortalities, killing approximately 92519 livestock in the year 2023. The increased frequency of these disasters may be attributed to the consequences of climate change. As per the study of Bont et al, 2024 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2024.108461), the higher heat wave intensity caused an increase of 14.7% of mortality in India and around 1,116 number of deaths on average are estimated annually due to heat waves. As it was mentioned, the primary sensitivity for climate change is the increase in temperatures, let us look at India’s temperature along with the rainfall on decadal time scale. This data is given in detail in Figures 1 and 2 above.
Fig. 1: India monthly temperatures rise in °C (per decade) till the year 2100 with reference to 1985 to 2014, if no new policies were adopted to reduce the emissions (source: Lakshmi Kumar et al, 2023, Global and Planetary Change, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104137)
Fig. 2: India monthly rainfall change in % (per decade) till the year 2100 with reference to 1985 to 2014, if no new policies were adopted to reduce the emissions (source: Lakshmi Kumar et al, 2023, Global and Planetary Change, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104137)
The Figs 1 & 2 were obtained using data by averaging thirteen (13) general circulation model simulations over India. The average temperatures over India will increase continuously and are expected to rise 3° to 5°C from the present scenario by the end of the 21st century. The winter temperatures were reported to increase more than the summer ones (Fig.1). Similarly, the rainfall was also projected to increase by the end of the 21st century with a higher percentage during the summer (Fig.2). The changes in temperature and rainfall over different regions of India by the end of 21st century show that i) number of rainy days during the South-West Monsoon (June to September) decreases by 3 days per year over northeastern and Himalayan regions of India. However, the extreme rainfall days will increase, and ii) Himalayan region undergoes the highest warming in the country. These results are being considered when no steps have been taken to reduce emissions. The warming levels will reach 1.5°C by 2030s and 2°C by 2040s which poses great challenges to circumvent the climate change problems. India also believes that the problem of climate change is not confined to some regions. According to the Vedas, India has also believed since ancient times that the world is one family — Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — and every thought process of Indian intellectuals is based on the entire world.
As per the Upanishads, the universe is composed of earth, water, light, air and ether, and nature not only balances all these but also among them. A perturbation in any of these elements can cause imbalance leading to complications to the living organisms. This approach shows that humans and other living organisms along with the non-living elements such as water, air, etc., are inseparable. A study on ‘Sustainable and Disaster Resilient Urban Development, India’, reported that the urban areas of India are more vulnerable to the disasters of human-induced climate change due to their population density and insufficient infrastructure. A research study by Sethi and Vinoj, 2024 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-024-00074-0) reported that urbanization alone has contributed to an overall 60% of the warming over Indian cities.
To improve the infrastructure of the cities, the Government of India launched the Smart Cities Mission in the year 2015. Under this mission, 99 cities have been selected to promote the quality of life of citizens through e-governance, sanitation, sustainable environment, etc. Another scheme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, called the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) focuses on providing basic civic amenities and maintaining greenery in the cities which is essential in the process of addressing the climate change issues.
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GRASSROOTS AWARENESS
National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 stresses on the importance of environmental education as part of school curriculum and was mainly aimed to bring the awareness of climate change among young children. The number of stakeholders such as policy makers, administration authorities, insurance sectors, NGOs have considerably increased in India to promote the environment and climate change and to involve the people in mitigation plans. As per media reports in 2021, nearly 74% of students of a survey stated that they study environmental science at school, and they receive continuous encouragement to plant trees and to avoid plastic in their daily usage. It is also found that 61% of survey respondents declared that they were aware of the environment and climate change. The role of NGOs in India is remarkable. An NGO can play a key role in initiating the dialogue between the government and civic bodies and acts as a bridge to fill the gap so as to actively involve citizens in implementing climate change action and adaptation strategies. There are nearly 2 million NGOs in India as per DARPAN portal, as reported in media. Out of these, 8%, 4%, and 2% are occupied with education-literacy, environment-forests, and disaster management respectively.
The scheme of PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana introduced by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Govt of India, allocated a fund of Rs 75,021 crores to achieve one crore roof top solar systems in the residential sectors of the country. This is expected to reduce not only the burden of electricity cost on households but also reduce the 720 million tons of CO2 emissions in a time span of 25 years. Through capacity building under this scheme, nearly one lakh solar photovoltaic technicians will be created.
National Green Energy Mission is another initiative by the MNRE for the development of clean energy which minimizes carbon emissions to a remarkable extent. An allocation of Rs 455 crores, Rs 496 crores and Rs 115 crores for low carbon steel projects, mobility pilot projects and shipping pilot projects respectively was done by the government. Now India stands 4th globally in creating renewable energy capacity as per International Renewable Energy Agency and the solar/ wind powers in India have increased from 2.82/ 21 GW to 81.81/ 45.88 GW since 2014.
The current Union Budget of India for the fiscal year 2024-2025 has given importance to preparation of ocean-climate atlas, development of ocean models, improving air quality network, etc., which shows the commitment to address climate change issues. The budget has also created a base for partnering with the private sector in nuclear energy and through this Bharat Small Reactors and other newer technologies for nuclear energy will be rolled out. The budget also provides support for shifting micro and small industries to cleaner energy forms. An estimate of Rs 21230 crores has been allocated for the renewable energy programme during the fiscal year 2024-25. The activities of different missions such as National Water Mission and National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem have improved during the present government regime.
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CLIMATE CHANGE: INDIA V/S THE WORLD
The approach of India is very crystal clear in tackling climate change through its initiatives and future plans. The Government of India laid down the roadmap for making India a completely non-carbon emitting entity and already communicated the long-term strategies for reducing carbon emissions. As per the Emissions Gap Report 2023 of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), India contributes 5% of the total warming with a population of 18% of the globe, while the United States of America (USA) contributes 17% of warming with 4% of the global population living in that country. India’s per capita emission is nearly half of the world’s average while it is above average for Russia and USA. More research towards the development of new technologies that can be translated to affordable alternatives for people without compromising sustainability, is essential. People also should actively adopt sustainable measures and necessary legislation may be put forward by the governments to make India successful in dealing with climate change. The onus is also on every individual to ensure that they contribute to mitigating climate change impacts by using energy efficient appliances and sources of renewable energies in everyday life. Avoiding single use plastic, adopting sustainable local food systems, etc., as mentioned in the LiFE mission of the Govt of India can be followed by an individual to prevent environment degradation which will help in reducing the notorious impacts of climate change.
*Dr Lakshmi Kumar T V is Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He can be reached at lakshmikumar.tv@hotmail.com. Dr K Koteswara Rao is a Climate Specialist at the National Centre for Meteorology, Abu Dhabi.
