Climate Change

India’s commitments at COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow made by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to significantly reduce carbon emission bring both challenges and opportunities. India has to achieve a net zero emission by the year 2070, as per the commitment and a billion tonne reduction in the carbon emissions has to be attained by 2030. For this the non-fossil fuel capacity of the country has to be raised to 500 GW by the same year. These rather ambitious targets are going to help the country to overcome its susceptibilities due to global warming, unpredictability of weather, its other consequences like more frequent droughts, floods and famine, besides other natural disasters that climate change can wreak. Thus, the very premise behind development is going to be redefined and a new paradigm for growth in future has to be found.

The new low emission and sustainable regime calls for new technologies and more than that a new approach with a fresh mindset. These need massive efforts and resources to be organised both from within the country and beyond its confines. Given the high stakes involved, including man’s survival on earth, the world appears to be ready to share and collaborate with greater urgency than before. And for the first time this is going to cut across the national boundaries. So the tasks now are to gear up for the veritable challenge and tap the opportunities that it is bound to throw up in the form of aid and assistance, sharing of technological knowhow and exchange of environmentally-compliant goods and services among the countries of the world at a larger scale than what has been the case thus far.

ICPRD and its team of experts greatly feel the need for a new roadmap to make emission cuts possible and improve the lives and livelihood of people during the process with their safety and security in mind.