India Challenges Western Approach to Climate Change, Calls for Tailored Solutions

'Global approach to deal with climate change flawed'

New Delhi: The current global approach to dealing with climate change is flawed because it doesn't recognise trade-offs to climate action, the Economic Survey for 2023-24 released July 22 said, underlining that developed countries should take the lead in countering climate change and be accountable in providing climate finance. "The current approach to dealing with climate change is flawed for one very simple reason. It continues to ignore trade-offs. But practical men and women have been unable to avoid recognising trade-offs. Countries had to push back their own timelines," the survey said, giving examples of the UK which postponed its decision to ban the sale of vehicles that run on petrol and diesel for five years from 2030 to 2035 and Germany had to dilute its rules for banning boilers running on fossil fuels before they could be passed. The rise of alternative political parties in developed nations is attributed to the public's resistance to climate-related rules that are perceived as unfairly targeting the poor . "Alternative energy sources require fiscal subsidies to be affordable. However, most governments worldwide are fiscally stretched, especially after dealing with the economic and health dislocations caused by the pandemic. Many countries also tax fossil fuels heavily. By clamping down on their usage, governments will lose those revenues," the report said, flagging that China has kind of monopoly on materials required for transition to certain renewable sources. "Geopolitically, the thrust on renewable energy and electric vehicles has set off a race to secure critical minerals and rare earths. China has positioned itself as an indispensable source of several of these materials. Securing supply in crunch times is a matter of concern. Nuclear energy is the cleanest and safest option. However, some nations are reluctant to consider it given that their public overestimates probabilities of rare events...Three Mile island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, loom large in people's minds." "It is morally wrong to tell developing countries to abandon their aspirations for better living standards so that developed countries can maintain their ways of living in cleaner environments and cooler climates," the Survey said. It added that developing countries have to downgrade their development goals to contain global emissions but are now being threatened with a carbon tax at borders "in full negation of the spirit of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective national capabilities that was supposed to have undergirded the Paris Agreement." The survey also points out that rich countries are ramping up energy infrastructure especially for artificial intelligence (AI). As machine learning models have become more advanced, the computational power required to develop them has doubled every five to six months since 2010 according to the International Energy Agency. "Even as developed nations prepare to impose a carbon tax at the border on imports coming into their countries laden with carbon, they are ramping up energy demand like never before, thanks to their obsession with letting Artificial Intelligence (AI) guide, take over and dominate natural intelligence. One of the leading global technology companies promised to achieve Net Zero by 2030 at the turn of the decade. But, the race to dominate the emerging technology of Artificial Intelligence has caused its emissions to be higher by 30% by 2023," the survey said. India's climate stand Despite the impact on economy, India achieved most targets of its first nationally determined contribution (NDC) well in advance, the survey said. For instance, the country achieved 40% cumulative electrical power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy sources in 2021 and reduced the emission intensity of India's GDP from 2005 levels by 33% in 2019- nine and 11 years before the target year of 2030, respectively. The NDC was further updated in August 2022. As of 31 May 2024, the share of non-fossil sources in the installed electricity generation capacity has reached 45.4 %. India has proposed that the global movement on climate change must be accommodative of sovereign choices and economic needs, but centred on individual behaviour, in line with Lifestyle for Environment movement that it has proposed. "Before compelling poorer nations to change their developmental journey, it's necessary for individuals, especially in the developed world, to alter their lifestyle in favour of simple behavioural changes, all of which directly contribute to mitigation efforts," the Survey said. It gave the example of India's Green Credit Programme -- a market-based mechanism aimed at encouraging individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies to engage in environmental actions such as plantations, through the issuance of green credits. The last part of the introduction to the climate chapter appeared intriguing to many including experts. "Fittingly, the last word of this introductory section should be left to Mike Hulme, who has been studying the phenomenon for more than four decades" the survey said adding Hulme's quote: "Climate change isn't everything. It is quite easy to imagine future worlds in which global temperature exceeds 2°C warming which are 'better' for human well-being, political stability and ecological integrity, for example, than other worlds in which - by all means and at all costs - global temperature was stabilised at 1.5°C." Hulme is Professor of Human Geography in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge. "While the economic survey highlights many positives in terms of India's climate action ambition, it does convey a sense of contradictions in the overall messaging. It emphasises that there is clear evidence that the developing world is more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, yet it quotes Hulme to say that a 2Deg C world might be better than a 1.5 DegC world! It rightly points out in the conclusion that 'while uncertainties loom, they present avenues for innovation, adaptation and growth for India' , but fails to see that innovation happens only when the policy signal is clear and credible. Otherwise why would it contradict India's formal agreement with the Paris Accord which emphasises the criticality of 'pursue(ing) efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius'?" asked Vaibhav Chaturvedi, fellow, Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

India criticises western 'one-size-fits-all' approach of tackling climate change

NEW DELHI: Countering the western approach of tackling climate change, India on Monday gave a clarion call to all developing countries to look at the problem from a "local lens", saying a "one-size-fits-all" approach will not work. It underlined that current global strategies for dealing with climate change are flawed and not universally applicable. India's point got reflected in the pre-budget Economic Survey that argued that the developing countries need to be free to choose their own pathways as they have to balance developmental goals with meaningful climate action. Though India has consistently been raising this point at several multilateral forums, the survey took it up so directly for the first time blaming the historical polluters (rich nations) for the current mess and even argued that the "developing nations are forcefully nudged to sign up for climate commitments that they are not ready for". It noted that adopting the practices of the west could prove to be disastrous for India where culture, economy, societal norms are already intertwined with the environment through multiple actions including lifestyle choices and food habits (such as low meat consumption and minimising waste). The survey, tabled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament, said the country's annual per capita carbon emission is only about one-third of the global average despite being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Nevertheless, the country's track record on climate action is better than most of the rich nations whose historical carbon footprints are much higher than India. Quoting a recent report by the International Finance Corporation, the survey flagged that India is the only G20 nation whose actions are in line with limiting 2-degree Celsius of warming by the end of the century. Touching upon the country's net-zero goal of 2070, the survey emphasised the need for huge finance noting that India requires an investment support of $1.4 trillion -- an average of $28 billion per year -- to become a net-zero economy. It, however, pointed out that raising financial resources of this scale is an "unprecedented challenge". The survey also highlighted the inherent inconsistencies where the prescriptions to tackle climate change from the developed world do not hold ground globally. It pointed out that the western approach does not seek to address the root of the problem, i.e. overconsumption, but rather chooses to substitute the means to achieve overconsumption. It also noted that the global pursuit of energy-guzzling technologies such as AI and mining rare earth minerals in large quantities has only contributed to higher fossil fuel consumption. This is directly at odds with the stated objectives of climate change mitigation. On India's climate action, the survey talked about the country's Mission LiFE, which is envisaged as a mass movement to address climate change and foster sustainable living based on conservation and moderation principles. It also highlighted the government's support for voluntary environmental actions through the Green Credit Programme (GCP), which incentivises individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies to participate in environment-positive activities by offering green credits as rewards.

Adopting Western practices to tackle climate change can be adverse for India -- Economic Survey

"...The current global strategies for climate change are flawed and not universally applicable," the survey read. "...adopting the practices of the West could prove to be disastrous for India where culture, economy, and societal norms are already intertwined with the environment," it added. While presenting India's map to manage the climate crisis, the survey highlighted how climate change has disproportionately affected developing nations. For instance, the survey said, in 2022, the food price inflation in India was 3.8%, but it rose to 7.5% in 2024 due to extreme weather events. The survey pointed out that despite making "significant strides in climate action", India often faces criticism for not aligning with Western solutions. The survey attributed this criticism to a lack of appreciation for India's unique social and cultural fabric, which is "already rich with sustainable development ideas". "It further goes on to point out inherent inconsistencies where the prescriptions to tackle climate change from the developed world do not hold ground globally," the survey said. Experts said the economic survey's emphasis on growth and development-aligned climate actions indicates that incentives that boost domestic solar panel manufacturing and green hydrogen production may become the key pillars of the Union Budget's climate announcements. "While the economic survey emphasises energy efficiency practices under LiFE, it should also emphasise the criticality of technology efficiency and super-efficient appliances, which the budget could support through appropriate incentives and measures," said Vaibhav Chaturvedi, a senior fellow with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). Also read: 'I stand here and I see a young village boy...' -- ISRO chief Somanath gets his PhD from IIT-Madras at 60 The economic survey said India's ethos emphasised a harmonious relationship with nature, contrasting with the culture of overconsumption, prevalent in the developed world. Comparing traditional Indian practices with the Western approach, the survey said that meat production in most developed nations poses a credible food security risk and threatens to degrade land, water and natural resources, permanently. "The reliance on human-edible crops to feed livestock has set into motion a 'food-feed competition' as less than half the cereals produced today go towards direct human consumption," the survey said. India relies mostly on green, dry or concentrated crop leftovers. Also read: L-G Saxena directs use of Miyawaki forest technique, aquatic forests to increase Delhi's green cover "Even as developed nations prepare to impose a carbon tax at the border on imports coming into their countries, laden with carbon, they are ramping up energy demand like never before, thanks to their obsession with letting artificial intelligence (AI) guide, take over and dominate natural intelligence," the survey read. It added, "One of the leading global technology companies promised to achieve Net Zero by 2030 at the turn of the decade. But, the race to dominate the emerging technology of Artificial Intelligence has caused its emissions to be higher by 30 per cent by 2023." Citing a Goldman Sachs report, released in April, the survey said that the demand for power in the United States is predicted to witness unprecedented growth in the coming years because of AI. "In India, demand-side management (DSM) interventions have helped utilise and reduce the peak electricity demands and defer high investments in generation, transmission, and distribution networks. Measures that enable efficiency gains can be an effective way to reduce demand," the survey read.

India criticises western 'one-size-fits-all' approach of tackling climate change - Times of India

NEW DELHI: Countering the western approach of tackling climate change, India on Monday gave a clarion call to all developing countries to look at the problem from a "local lens", saying a "one-size-fits-all" approach will not work. It underlined that current global strategies for dealing with climate change are flawed and not universally applicable. India's point got reflected in the pre-budget Economic Survey that argued that the developing countries need to be free to choose their own pathways as they have to balance developmental goals with meaningful climate action. Though India has consistently been raising this point at several multilateral forums, the survey took it up so directly for the first time blaming the historical polluters (rich nations) for the current mess and even argued that the "developing nations are forcefully nudged to sign up for climate commitments that they are not ready for". It noted that adopting the practices of the west could prove to be disastrous for India where culture, economy, societal norms are already intertwined with the environment through multiple actions including lifestyle choices and food habits (such as low meat consumption and minimising waste). The survey, tabled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament, said the country's annual per capita carbon emission is only about one-third of the global average despite being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Nevertheless, the country's track record on climate action is better than most of the rich nations whose historical carbon footprints are much higher than India. Quoting a recent report by the International Finance Corporation, the survey flagged that India is the only G20 nation whose actions are in line with limiting 2-degree Celsius of warming by the end of the century. Touching upon the country's net-zero goal of 2070, the survey emphasised the need for huge finance noting that India requires an investment support of $1.4 trillion -- an average of $28 billion per year -- to become a net-zero economy. It, however, pointed out that raising financial resources of this scale is an "unprecedented challenge". The survey also highlighted the inherent inconsistencies where the prescriptions to tackle climate change from the developed world do not hold ground globally. It pointed out that the western approach does not seek to address the root of the problem, i.e. overconsumption, but rather chooses to substitute the means to achieve overconsumption. It also noted that the global pursuit of energy-guzzling technologies such as AI and mining rare earth minerals in large quantities has only contributed to higher fossil fuel consumption. This is directly at odds with the stated objectives of climate change mitigation. On India's climate action, the survey talked about the country's Mission LiFE, which is envisaged as a mass movement to address climate change and foster sustainable living based on conservation and moderation principles. It also highlighted the government's support for voluntary environmental actions through the Green Credit Programme (GCP), which incentivises individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies to participate in environment-positive activities by offering green credits as rewards. Vishwa Mohan is Senior Editor at The Times of India. He writes on environment, climate change, agriculture, water resources and clean energy, tracking policy issues and climate diplomacy. He has been covering Parliament since 2003 to see how politics shaped up domestic policy and India's position at global platform. Before switching over to explore sustainable development issues, Vishwa had covered internal security and investigative agencies for more than a decade.