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India has been increasingly integrating climate resilience and adaptation into development plans, with estimates suggesting that the total adaptation-relevant expenditure was 5.6 per cent of the gross domestic product in 2021-2022, the Economic Survey 2023-24 report released July 22, 2024 stated.
This, it said, was a reflection of the significant strain on domestic resources, and that increasing adaptation finance flows to India would help the country meet its long-term sustainable development and economic growth goals.
Climate change poses a significant threat to India, particularly its coastal regions. The document called for a greater need for adaptive strategies in agriculture and conservation efforts to mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change on natural habitats, vegetation and vital bio-resources.
The country needs $1.4 trillion at an average of $28 billion per year to achieve its 2070 Net Zero target.
A lion’s share of India’s climate action has been domestically financed and the flow of international finance has been very limited, the report highlighted.
International financing has increased from 13 per cent in the financial year 2019 to 17 per cent in the financial year 2020. This is still insufficient to achieve India’s Net-Zero target.
The report also spells out India’s focus: Adaptation to climate change. From a developing country’s perspective, continued economic growth is the “best insurance against climate change”, the document stated.
For India’s economic growth, the country’s energy needs are expected to grow 2 to 2.5 times by 2047.
India continues to be heavily reliant on fossil fuels. The country’s primary energy mix in 2022-23 was fossil-fuel dominant, with almost 84 per cent coming from coal, oil and natural gas combined. Nearly 70 per cent of India’s total electric generation comes from coal.
Despite significant economic growth over the last decade, India’s per capita emissions were 2.5 to 2.8 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, nearly three times lower than the European Union’s per capita emissions of 8 tonnes CO2 equivalent per year.
The survey also explained that the current climate change strategy, which calls for replacing conventional fuel with renewables and clean energy, is flawed because it fails to address the root cause of the problem — overconsumption, which is more prevalent in developed countries.
The report specifically mentions beef production and its contribution to climate change, noting that it produces the most emissions per kilogramme of food product.
“Despite this [its contribution], there is not even a call for change, let alone a mandate,” the survey read.
The report, however, mentioned that power and transport industries contribute the most to greenhouse gas emissions, followed by industrial combustion, agriculture and waste industries.
It further cited a recent analysis published in journal Nature, which noted that only 37 per cent of the harvested area of major crops is used for direct food consumption. A large share of the human edible crops is facing competition primarily from the livestock industry, it notes.
Papers have highlighted that beef production emits 2-9 times the greenhouse gases of other animal products and over 50 times that of most plant‐based foods per unit of protein. “Given the demand for beef has dropped very little per capita despite the climate and health impacts of beef, assessing and implementing best practices for beef production is necessary to help mitigate climate change,” read a 2021 study.
