The most contentious global debate today is the obligations of the developed and the developing countries to take steps to reduce their carbon footprint. Though climate change is a danger for all countries-developed and developing alike, the quantum of responsibility for mitigating climate change is a debatable issue. There is a perceived divide between the obligations of the two worlds in which our planet is divided.
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The source of virtually all past emissions i. . the developed world has a greater responsibility to take steps to reduce their carbon emissions substantially and help in stabilizing the environment which they disturbed to a large extent. This is the reason why they are subjected to binding targets of reducing their emissions by a set amount in all international agreements. However, the developing world is gearing towards development at a very fast pace and all development and industrialization pre-supposes the need of higher emissions. Due to this, the emission levels of this part of the world are bound to increase even more rapidly.
Mitigating climate change in developing countries poses a fundamental challenge. For developing nations as a whole, reduction in emissions is not a viable option specifically in the short term. With per capita incomes far below those of developed countries—and per capita emissions almost one-sixth those of the industrialized world—developing countries will carry on stepping up their emissions as they strive to achieve high levels of economic growth and a better quality of life for its citizens. This paper dwells into the issue of climate change and the impact it has on the economy of a country like India.
It covers what India, being a developing nation, is doing and how that is affecting the growth of key sectors like power and ultimately the nation’s economic growth. The economic costs involved in the measures taken up for reducing carbon emissions outweigh the economic benefits that India would get from rapid industrialization. Thus, there is a moral dilemma that India faces to sacrifice one for the other. It can incur heavy costs to mitigate climate change and delay its development or not care about climate change and focus on its development.
Developing countries’ green house gas emissions will most probably exceed those of the developed world within the first half of this century, foregrounding the need for developing countries’ concerted efforts to reduce the adverse impact of climate change. Even though developing nations have not been keen to accept binding emissions targets, asking that developed nations take action first, most of them are undertaking efforts that have reduced the growth in their own emissions significantly. In most cases, climate mitigation is not the goal, but rather an outgrowth of efforts driven by economic, security, or local environmental concerns.
The issue with climate change is that its impact is not limited to a certain area or bounded by geographical locations. This makes it mandatory for all the nations-whether major contributors to climate change or not, to take steps to control the extent of climate change by reducing or at least limiting their carbon emissions to the current levels. India is a minor contributor to the global carbon emissions at around 3-4% of global levels but it still needs to take steps to limit its emissions since they are on an upward trend due to the direct relationship between economic growth and green house gas emissions.
India is growing at very fast pace, but still needs to go a long way in solving its economic and social issues. More than a third of the population lives below the poverty line and the economic disparity between the rich and poor is increasing rapidly. There is a strong need for the development of the country to solve its major problems of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy which are the basic elements of human development. The only way forward towards a developed nation high on the human development index is through massive economic growth which can only be achieved through industrialization.
The industrialization process mandates an increase in the greenhouse gas emissions. This would lead to a conflict between the goals of mitigating climate change and achieving economic development of the country. Thus, India has to find a fine balance between economic growth and reduction in emissions. The debate is whether these climate mitigation policies impact the infrastructure sector which is the main driver of economic growth in the country. Thus, let’s examine the effects of climate change policies on the power sector and the overall development of India.
Climate change refers to the heating up of the earth’s atmosphere due to an increase in the level of greenhouse gases. The greenhouse gases form a blanket on the earth’s surface to make it habitable by not letting the heat of the sun escape the earth which would make the temperature drop to inhabitable levels. This would, in turn affect the existence of the living organisms. Due to anthropogenic or human induced factors there has been a sharp increase in the level of greenhouse gases which leads to an increase in the temperature of the earth’s surface causing various ecological imbalances in the world.
These emissions are also called carbon emissions since the main components of greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide and methane; both carbon rich gases. These emissions are a by-product of many human activities consisting of mainly industrial activities. All human activities relating to the modern lifestyle of today’s man are large contributors to the issue of climate change. The problem of climate change had its major emergence in the industrial revolution. All the activities in the industrialization process necessitate an increase in carbon emissions.
Thus, the development processes of a country as well as its carbon emissions go hand-in-hand. The monumental problems of climate change faced by the world today are a cause of the rapid industrialization that took place in the last century. Thus, the developed world is the major culprit of this crime which led to the exploitation of our atmosphere. But, the developing countries, which have just recently begun their journey to the destination of development, are made to shoulder the responsibility of mitigating the adverse effects of climate change by reduction in the carbon emissions levels emitted by them.
