At the COP26 Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, India committed to what many feel is an extremely ambitious target—net zero emissions by 2070. While there aren’t many details available with the public as yet about the exact pathway, most of the conversations on climate change in India revolve around a few areas. The Union government’s focus has primarily been on non-fossil fuel/renewable power generation, solar being the main driver with wind coming in second and a small portion reserved for hydro electricity. Indeed, the focus could be seen from two separate pledges made at the COP26—first, that non-fossil energy capacity would go up to 500 GW, and second, half of the country’s energy demand would be met through renewable energy by 2030.
Apart from power generation from renewable sources, the other focus for the Union government (and several state ones) has been the incentives and policies that could lead to a rapid adoption of Electric Vehicles (EV) and the phaseout eventually of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) automobiles. The third conversation on climate change in India is on the ESG goals and strategies of big corporations, both in the manufacturing as well as the service sector.
However, if India is to meet its net zero-emission goals while also ensuring that economic growth does not slow down, a couple of other important discussions need to also come to the forefront. Two particularly crucial issues are the role of agriculture in emissions and how to mitigate them, and the role of cities and local governments and their strategies to reduce the impact of climate change. Around the world, these are important concerns but in India, they have not yet received the attention they deserve.
The fact that climate change will adversely affect the Indian agricultural sector had been flagged by several people, including former chief economic advisor to the finance ministry, Arvind Subramanian. He pointed out in the Economic Survey of 2017–18 that climate change could reduce agricultural incomes by up to 25%.
The other aspect—the role of agriculture in greenhouse gas emissions—has not received the attention it should, though it is a fairly hot topic globally. Estimates put greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and livestock in India at about 18% of total emissions. Reports suggest that just by adopting better fertiliser utilisation, zero tillage and more efficient management of water for irrigation, the emissions can be cut sharply to 18–20%. Better livestock and manure management could cut methane emissions further. And adopting emission-reducing rice management varieties could help even more.
But these will only reduce emissions—they are steps needed to slow down global warming but do nothing to reverse the damage that will be done by then. And that is why it is necessary to urgently find solutions that will help farmers adapt to permanent higher temperatures like developing crop varieties that can flourish even in warmer conditions.
Changing the habits of farmers is anything but easy anywhere around the world, but especially in India where they have had plenty of reasons to be wary of any change that could adversely affect them in the short run. But unless India takes agricultural emissions as an issue seriously, the goal of zero emissions will remain just an ambitious dream. Similarly, planning for agriculture in a warmer world needs to start now. For both the Union and the state governments, communication and incentives, rather than any law, will work better as far as persuading the farmers is concerned.
The second issue, the role of cities and urban planning in reducing emissions as well as adopting climate change mitigation strategies, has also largely been ignored in India, though in the Western world it is often the cities that have taken a lead in the climate change battle.
Big metropolises in India—Delhi-NCR, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru—all need focused strategies both for reducing emissions as well as for the adaptation of plans for the mitigation of climate change. Apart from the obvious strategies—using solar panels, especially rooftop ones to generate power and reduce dependence on thermal power, and the adoption of EV fleets for climate transport—other best practices and technologies need to be examined and implemented carefully. Carbon capture and utilisation is one area that no big city has seriously explored but has immense potential, both in terms of cutting emissions and reducing pollution hazards. Equally, smarter and energy efficient building technology, better traffic planning and management, and smart energy policies can help immensely.
Some of these technologies are fairly mature. Better roads with fewer chokepoints, bicycle lanes and better traffic flow planning have been known for a long time. Energy efficient construction materials and better quality of construction can reduce the need for air conditioners and hence power quite sharply. Carbon capture and utilisation technologies are being tried out around the world and these could be particularly important—especially in areas of high emissions where factories are located. Again, the key is to use a combination of incentives, subsidies and strict pollution control and emission laws for industrial units near the cities to combat climate change.
Unless the debates and planning in these areas start right away, India’s ambitious targets will be hard to achieve.
Prosenjit Datta
Leader, Content and Knowledge Centre of Excellence, EY
(prosaicview@gmail.com)