Climate Change: What Next For India
The announcement that the US was withdrawing from the historic climate change pact arrived in Paris reverberated throughout the globe. Undoubtedly this is a major jolt to the agreement and a test for whether the agreement will withstand the withdrawal a major player and polluter. The US president also singled out India and China in his speech detailing reasons for the withdrawal saying that the pact benefits India and China at the expense of American workers. The Indian government has made the right noises about staying in the pact but these mask debates at home on whether India needs to be more inward or outward looking on the issue.
Climate experts Navroz Dubash and Neha Joseph point out while it is true that India in recent times has entered the ambit of a 'major emitter' ranking 4th after the US , China and the European Union it has not been a 'historical emitter'. This matters because climate change is product of historical and cumulative emissions. For example India's global cumulative emissions stand at 3% when compared with the US at 27 per cent. In 2011 India's per capita emissions were 2.ot CO2 per as compared to world average 6.03ot CO2 , India per capita emissions are also 1/4th of those of China. There is a case to be made (as was recently done by Jyoti and Kirit Parikh) that India has no historical obligation towards global contributions to reducing emissions and should focus on domestic priorities for human development. These include creating jobs through coals powered energy that continues to be the major source of energy looking towards 2020.
Climate change is prescient. In the present scenario India bears the dual burden of both a highly vulnerable country to the effects of climate change and being a major emitter. With the majority of the population dependent on an agrarian economy the impacts of climate change such as droughts, cyclones, varying temperatures and floods affect households already pushed into poverty. India is also home to over 31 per cent of children living in extreme poverty. Dealing with climate change is integral to poverty alleviation efforts within the country and there is a 'co-benefit' to development and climate change outcomes that need to be placed at the centre of human development efforts.
The withdrawal of the US presents a historic opportunity for the India and China to fill the vacuum left behind. This will not be possible if we pursue narrow short term interests. Climate change action makes sense for global and national interests. The withdrawal of the US should not be a call for us to retreat but to expand our role on the global front and strengthen our institutions at home to move forward.
