Tackling climate change a game of global finance

A prolonged heatwave followed by a monsoon when it rained heavily or not at all—leading to a vicious cycle of droughts, floods, landslides, storms—that was climate-changed India 2024.

- JOYDEEP GUPTA

The situation has been getting worse for around three decades, as the global average temperature has climbed to 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. With business as usual, it is projected to rise by at least 2.7 degrees by the end of the century.

India finds itself in a peculiar position. It is the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases—mainly carbon dioxide—that are warming up the atmosphere. Only China and the US emit more. But India's per capita emission is among the world's lowest, though it is projected to go up as more people use more electricity. At the same time India is among the world's ten-worst impacted countries, with around Rs 13.35 lakh crore spent on climate adaptation in 2021-22, just over 5.5% of its GDP, according to the government. It expects to spend another Rs 57 lakh crore for the same purpose by 2029.

This does not include the money being spent on renewable energy—the main way to control greenhouse gas emissions—by central and state governments, private firms and individuals.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has coordinated global efforts to combat this menace since 1995, when its first conference of parties (COP) was held. Since then, India has argued that developed countries—with 20% of the world's population—have placed 80% of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Age, so developed countries must pay developing countries to deal with the problem.

This has led to protracted and ongoing debates at the annual COPs, with developed countries saying China and India now emit more and that rich countries are already paying as much as they can. India has stuck to its guns. At the 2023 COP in Dubai, it asked rich countries to provide at least $1 trillion per year to developing countries from 2025, primarily through grants and concessional finance rather than commercial loans.