Paris agreement

Saddled with the demons of poverty and an exploding population, India has been bold in announcing it will ratify on October 2 the protocol on climate change signed at the Paris summit last year. The decision instantly puts India on the moral high ground, especially because it comes days after it was accused of seeking to relate the ratification to a seat in the NSG at the last G20 Summit. India’s approval may enable the agreement to come into force this year itself, as that can happen only when countries producing 55 per cent of the world’s emissions are committed. It also helps India to present itself as a responsible global power, even in the context of attempting to ‘isolate’ Pakistan in security terms. The biggest emitter of carbon, China (20%), has already taken the lead over India by signing up.

It needs to be understood that the commitments are essentially voluntary and largely to the extent the country can deliver. That is so for all signatories. Sticking to its long-stated principle of polluter pays, India has not committed to capping its emissions, but effectively to only check their growth. The plan is largely to invest more in non-fossil sources of energy, and increase the forest cover. With solar power costs reaching parity with thermal, the pain should not be unbearable.

India has repeatedly pointed to the fact that its per capita energy consumption has been less than half of the minimum required to achieve a Human Development Index of 0.9. Yet, the sheer size of its population puts it among the top five emitters (4% of the global share). The cost of going ‘green’, however, is worth it. India is expected to be among the countries that will take the biggest hit from climate change, with its long coastline that may go under water, and agriculture that is heavily dependent on steady weather patterns. After all the dust is settled, it will be in the world’s and India’s interest to commit the maximum possible to the cause of climate.