Dropping the green ball

India is not working hard enough on climate change

Shortly before World Environment Day on Wednesday, it was reported that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had soared to its highest level in three million years. Data captured by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed that environmental incidence of the gas mostly responsible for trapping heat had crossed 400 parts per million - a level that last prevailed in the Pliocene Age 2.5 million to 5.3 million years ago, when the global sea level was 60 to 80 feet higher than it is today. Sadly, there was little response to this news, which is symbolic of the waning global commitment towards arresting and reversing global warming. Regrettably, most governments, including India's, have in these years of economic slowdown taken environmental protection off their priority list. This subtle policy shift has dashed whatever little hope there was of minimising the increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Funding for the green agenda, which dropped considerably since the recession began in 2007-08, might dip further now that the Kyoto protocol expires. Should this trend endure, which seems likely considering the current policies of most countries, even the new, scaled-down, global target of keeping the surge in temperature below 2 degrees Celsius may be out of reach.

India's contribution to total GHG emissions is low per capita even by the standards of developing countries - a tiny fraction of China's, for example. Yet it nevertheless has much to do in the field, thanks to its sheer size. In this regard, the government has formulated a comprehensive and well-crafted national action plan on climate change. Progress in implementing the plan, however, hasn't matched its drafting. Few of the eight national missions unveiled in 2008 really got going. The Green India mission, aimed at bringing 10 million hectares under green cover, didn't get off the ground. The national solar mission, although pursued with some seriousness, is also likely to miss its target - thanks to policy deficiencies and especially a stubborn closed-mindedness about renewable energy in the infrastructure sector. The national water mission, aimed at improving water use efficiency 20 per cent through pricing and other measures, will miss targets too.

India is growing fast and is seeking to abandon its sole dependence on services-led growth, which has allowed it to ignore emission standards even as it has gained in output. As more factories come up, India's responsibility regarding global warming increases too. Following the national action plan more closely will at least help domestic industry, agriculture and other economic sectors adapt to the emerging climate trends and build their capacity to withstand the potential adverse impacts of these changes. Nor can India work on this problem alone. Its negotiators and policy makers should break their wrongheaded emphasis on a unified front with China at climate change negotiations, and push the global community towards renewing efforts to thrash out a worthy and legally binding successor to the Kyoto protocol - one that binds China as well as the rest of the polluting world.