Economic Survey: Why play down the climate crisis?

The document would do justice to the challenge if it did crystal ball gazing for clarity on what's really needed

- LEENA SRIVASTAVA

In my critique of the Economic Survey of 2023-24, I had highlighted how little justice it does to the climate imperatives India is facing. The Economic Survey of 2024-25 offers convoluted arguments that read as an apology for the progress made on mitigation measures and seem to confuse normal development initiatives and resilience-building measures with adaptation imperatives. The survey, preceding as it does the annual budget, is a document of the government's outlook on economic matters. As such, it is important that a subject as critical as climate change does not receive short shrift. Some of the reasons for my disappointment with the survey's treatment of climate change-related challenges are:

The apparent dismissal of mitigation: Stressing that India's aspiration for low carbon growth presents trade-offs, the survey essentially dismisses the progress made on renewable energy by admitting that "effectively harnessing and scaling these resources remains challenging due to the lack of viable storage technologies and limited access to essential minerals." Nothing wrong with this, per se, but why use it as a lead-up to an adaptation focus in the survey's chapter on climate? If anything, it highlights the need for taking a holistic approach to problem-solving by addressing all aspects of any given value chain, a priori, as well as evaluating the range of low-carbon pathways available to the country in a systemic manner.