Economic Survey: Southern states outdo others on India's road to net-zero

Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka take top slots in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index

India is giving a greater thrust on climate actions like increasing forest cover, improving the quality of air and water moving in line with its drive to become net zero by 2070, said the Economic Survey presented on Monday. On this journey, Southern states are leading the way with Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka taking the top slots in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) index.  

Followed by the government's green initiatives, 96 cities showed a decreasing trend of PM10 concentration in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20. The number of cities within the prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standard (PM10 less than 60 µg/m3) also increased from 18 in 2019-20 to 27 in 2020-21. However, air pollution remains a major concern, with 36 cities showing an increasing trend in PM10 concentration in 2020-2021 as compared to 2019-2020.

India’s performance on the NITI Aayog SDG India Index has improved from an overall score of 60 in 2019-20 to 66 in 2020-21. India has also been making significant strides in increasing its forest area, ranking third globally in net gain in forest area during the decade (2010-20). Much of India’s increase in forest cover during 2011-21 is attributed to enhancement in very dense forest cover, which rose by approximately 20 per cent during the period. Open forest cover also improved by 7 per cent during the period. "Going forward, there is a need to further improve forest and tree cover. Social forestry could also play a significant role in this regard," the survey said. The report added that climate finance will remain critical to successful climate action by developing countries, including India.

Among the states, Kerala got the top ranking with a composite SDG of 75, followed by Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh with 74 and Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa and Uttarakhand having 72 points. SDG is set looking at factors like poverty, hunger, industry, innovation and infrastructure, health, education standard, gender equality, clean water, sanitation, clean energy and economic growth among others.

Forests covered 24 per cent of India’s total geographical area accounting for 2 per cent of the world’s total forest area in 2020. India added an average 2,66,000 ha of additional forest area every year during the period, or adding approximately 0.38 per cent of the 2010 forest area every year between 2010 to 2020. The states and union territories showed improvement in management of its ground water resources through improving its recharge and by stemming its over-exploitation, and to prevent the critical and semi-critical assessment units from further worsening, it said.