Climate Change and its impact on India

Hello, This is my curated list of few resources about Climate Change and its impact on India. If you find any anomaly let me know. I have tried to be objective and select the articles which determine the grim effects of this global issue.

Reading References

• India is one of most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts

• India May Suffer Devastating Climate Change Impact In 80 Years: Study

• Modi’s UN Climate Meet Rhetoric Can’t Mask His Govt’s Sketchy Track Record 

• India's carbon emissions: The world might depend on India's climate efforts

• Killing a Constitution with a Thousand Cuts: Executive Aggrandizement and Party-state Fusion in India 

• In India, arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi shows decreasing space for opposition to Modi 

• Become climate champions: India's top family conglomerates must play a leadership role in its fight against climate change 

• Protect India's forests and urban green spaces, says India's climate

Facts from the above articles

1. India’s first-ever climate change assessment report has revealed that the country’s average temperature is expected to rise by 4.4 degree Celsius by the end of the year 2100.
2. The Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region report prepared by Union Ministry of Earth Sciences report cautioned that by the end of 2100, the “frequency of summer (April–June) heat waves over India is projected to be 3 to 4 times higher” and the “average duration of heatwave events is also projected to approximately double.”
3. The impact of heatwave stress is expected across India but particularly over the densely populated Indo-Gangetic river basin.
4. According to the report, the sea surface temperature (SST) of the tropical Indian Ocean has also risen by one degree Celsius, on average, during 1951–2015, which is higher than the global average warming of 0.7 degree Celsius, over the same period. 
5. The Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) have experienced a temperature rise of about 1.3 degree Celsius during 1951–2014.
6. The report by the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences observed that the impact of climate change on the availability of freshwater is a critical area of concern for India and the growing propensity for droughts and floods because of changing rainfall patterns caused by climate change would be “detrimental to surface and groundwater recharge, posing threats to the country’s water security.
7. Government documents accessed by HuffPost India also show that senior BJP leader Manohar Parrikar, who was Defense Minister at the time, differed with the PMO’s controversial direction to give local municipalities the power to grant environment clearance to large-scale construction projects — a task they are clearly ill-equipped to do.
8. Just seven family conglomerates (Reliance, Adani, Tata, Aditya Birla, Mahindra, Jindal, and Vedanta) are responsible for emitting at least 530 million tonnes of CO2 annually. This is equivalent to 22% of India’s total CO2 emissions. 
9. In 2019-20, these seven groups 
1. operated 25% of India’s coal-based power plants (50,000 MW)
2. produced 39% of India’s steel (43 million tonnes)
3. 27% of India’s cement (91 million tonnes)
4. 22% of India’s passenger and commercial vehicles (0.92 million)
5. accounted for 30% of oil refining capacity
6. 25% crude oil production
10. Mukesh Ambani has recently announced that Reliance Industries would become a net zero-carbon company by 2035. 
11. RIL is planning multi-billion dollar investments in hydrogen, wind, solar, fuel cells, and batteries to become one of the world’s top “new energy” companies
12. Tata’s have also strongly signalled that they are moving out of the coal sector and moving into renewable energy, electric vehicles, and hydrogen-based steel making.
13. Similarly, Mahindra has committed to aligning its operations with the science-based targets in the Paris Agreement
14. Adani is investing hugely in the solar business to become the “world’s largest” green energy enterprise.

Other Learnings

• Indeed, India is the only major country in the world where actions to combat emissions are compatible with the goal of limiting global warming to an average of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Climate Action Tracker, a joint initiative by two climate research organizations based in Germany.

• By contrast, the group says that China’s actions are “highly insufficient” with respect to that goal, while those of the United States are worse — it deems them “critically insufficient.”

• But its contribution is growing quickly as vehicle ownership expands. A government target of having 30 percent of vehicles running on battery power by 2030 appears out of reach, because such vehicles currently account for only a small fraction of new sales.

• In 2015, at the Paris Agreement, the world decided to limit global warming to two degree Celsius below pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degree Celsius. At current greenhouse gas emissions trajectories, global average temperature may rise 3-5 degree Celsius and perhaps higher if tipping points are triggered

• China surprised the rest of the world by announcing a new goal to become carbon neutral by 2060

• John Sterman, faculty director of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative

• Out of sight isn’t out of danger

• Stop thinking “growth versus green”

• The WHO estimates that air pollution is causing the premature deaths of about 7 million people every year,” Sterman said. “And many of those deaths occur in this country. It’s not just something that happens in Delhi and Shanghai and Jakarta. There’s not going to be anywhere to hide, no matter how affluent you are.

• World map of the Global Climate Risk Index for 1997–2016 [Germanwatch & Munich Re NatCatService]

• The index serves as a red flag for existing vulnerabilities that may further increase in regions where extreme events will become more frequent or more severe due to climate change, according to Germanwatch. Some vulnerable developing countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are frequently hit by extreme events.

• The risk index report, prepared using reinsurance company Munich Re‘s NatCatService and socio-economic data from the International Monetary Fund, shows increasing evidence for the link between  global warming and extreme El Niño events, which affects the monsoon in India.

Video References

• Covid and Climate Change: Lessons and Opportunities