Climate and Consciousness

Context: Increasing frequency of catastrophic events triggered by climate change like floods and landslides in Uttarakhand calls for an urgent policy response.

Fingerprints of global warming:

• Glacial floods: In 2013, glacial flooding caused over 6,000 deaths in Uttarakhand during the monsoon.
• Avalanches: The United States has witnessed many deadly avalanches since the beginning of 2021.
• Sweltering heat in the cities: As the glacier retreats, it aggravates warming (as the amount of heat reflected is decreased) sweltering heat in cities like Delhi and Hyderabad or floods in Kerala.
• Extreme cold weather: The extreme cold weather in Texas and the double­digit negative temperatures in Germany this year is connected to Arctic­peninsula warming (twice the global rate).
  • Global warming has caused gaps in the protective winds (which keep the cold locked in the north), allowing intensely cold air to move south.

Climate risks in India

• India is the third-largest carbon emitter (after China and the USA).
• Lacks neutrality plan: While China has announced carbon neutrality by 2060, Japan and South Korea by 2050.
• High Vulnerability:
  • HSBC ranks India at the top among 67 nations in climate vulnerability (2018).
  • Germanwatch ranks India fifth among 181 nations in terms of climate risks (2020).
• Lack of policy response: E.g. Kerala ignored the study calling for regulation of mining, quarrying and dam construction in ecologically sensitive places, which contributed to massive floods in 2018 and 2019.

Way Forward: Timely policy response

• Switch to renewables: India needs a decisive switch from highly polluting coal and petroleum to cleaner and renewable power sources.
• Explicitly include policies for climate mitigation in the
• Re-jig growth targets: to include timelines for switching to cleaner energy.
• Mobilise climate finance: by launching a major campaign.
• Prioritise Climate Adaptation: Central and State governments must increase allocations for risk reduction, such as better defences against floods or agricultural innovations to withstand droughts.