Climate Change: What are we waiting for?

As climate change kicks in, it is time for Indians to wake up to the challenge and demand more of our political class – and more of ourselves, argues Malini Mehra.

Despite an Indian, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairing the lead global body on climate change, the issue in India is virtually a leadership-free zone.

Although not challenging the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s scientific conclusions, the Indian government seems in no rush to change. Prodipto Ghosh, architect of the government’s climate strategy, has said: “India is certainly not responsible for the mess. We are, in fact, victims of it. So why expect us to tighten our belts?”

“On climate change, the government speaks as the weak and insecure India, not the India of hope and confidence that seeks to stride the world stage”

This sums up the government’s position for much of the past decade. As a poor developing nation, with per capita carbon emissions one twentieth that of the US, runs the argument, India’s ‘Right to Development’ cannot be compromised. Any emissions reductions must be compensated; and richer nations with greater historical responsibility for the problem must bear the brunt of the costs.

From a climate equity perspective, there is merit to India’s position. But when it comes to climate impact, the government’s position is short-sighted and dangerously complacent. The global climate does not distinguish between borders. Greenhouse gas emissions being pumped into the sky do not come with country flags attached. What matters is the total volume entering our fragile atmosphere. At present, India is the fifth largest – and growing – emitter, at a time when the window for remedial action is shrinking.

Yet the debate in India has been inaudible. The approach document to the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012) only mentions the words ‘climate change’ twice in its 109 pages; the capital city’s newly adopted Delhi Master Plan avoids the issue altogether.

India’s climate position is a consequence of the schizophrenia of being both poor and rich at the same time. It speaks as the weak and insecure India, not the India of hope and confidence that seeks to stride the world stage. The emotional message it sends out is of victimisation and fear.

India cannot have it both ways – we cannot be weak in some fora and strong in others. Which India gets to set our approach to the climate challenge – and the mindset, spirit and attitude it brings – matters.

A more enlightened approach would take ownership of the problem, facing up to the fact that our emissions now – at a time when the implications of our actions are crystal clear – are not without consequence. They risk turning us from climate victim into climate perpetrator. It will be harder to take the moral high ground if our actions accelerate the evacuation of people from poorer, low-lying states or small island nations.

“Climate change must be reframed, not as an agenda of fear and entitlement, but one of growth and opportunity”

This is not about the politics of blame; it is about recognising a shared dilemma and grasping the necessity for collective leadership. To succeed, climate change must be reframed not as an agenda of fear and entitlement, but one of growth and opportunity. We need to grow to provide prosperity and dignity for our people. But in a carbon-constrained world, that growth needs to be clean and green.

This need not be as hard as it seems. The money and the brains are there. Green is the new gold, and capital markets are awash with money for low-carbon technologies. India has more dollar billionaires than Japan, and an army of domestic venture capitalists eager to sniff out green markets. The $30 billion carbon trading market is growing fast in India, which is now one of the biggest sellers of Clean Development Mechanism credits worldwide.

Corporate India has heard the penny dropping. IT services company ITC’s new building in Gurgaon is Platinum-rated by the US Green Building Council. Bangalore’s hybrid REVA car is enjoying export success around the world. India’s wind power giant, Suzlon, is now the fifth largest globally and is poised to expand domestically. IT consultant Infosys is helping build a foundation for Indian companies to benefit from carbon emissions management.

And it’s not only a story of big business responding. At the small and medium end of the market, Indian entrepreneurs are breaking new ground in renewables and energy efficiency. The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy – the only one of their type – have had more award-winners from India than from any other country [see 'A series of small revolutions'].

Gearing the economy around sustainability may also help India address two of its most pressing problems – high unemployment and ‘jobless growth’. Europe provides an example of the gains to be made in the building sector alone. Economists have calculated that bringing the continent’s building stock up to standards set by the EU Energy Performance Directive could create 530,000 jobs every year. There are lessons here for India.

Addressing climate change could create new skill sets and new markets for India as a leader in climate adaptation and mitigation technologies. The Dutch have done this before us. They transformed their national disadvantage – a country lying below sea level and prone to disastrous flooding – into an asset, and now lead the world in flood defence technologies. There is no reason why a confident, pro-active India cannot be similarly versatile. We have the talent; we just need the ambition and the leadership.

So: the technology is there, and the economics are persuasive – but can we get the politics right?

There are signs that change may be coming. On June 5th, World Environment Day, the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, admitted that “our future will be at peril” unless people change their lifestyles. He has recently spoken of the need for a national action plan and established agenda-setting committees.

Helping him deliver this is a task for us all – at all levels. But first we need to democratise the debate and move it from the arcane to the public. Climate Challenge India, launched by the Centre for Social Markets in 2007, is an attempt to do this. It seeks to drive a national debate and generate positive energy within India on climate change. Participants at Challenge events have called for role models and more visible leadership. Even small gestures and symbols can carry weight. Imagine what a signal it would send if the prime minister swapped his car for a low-emissions Reva?

To paraphrase the business bestseller Green to Gold, smart companies use climate change to “innovate, create value, and build competitive advantage.” Smart nations can afford to do no less.

The prime minister should signal a new approach to climate change, explicitly recognising the benefits of early and responsible action for front-line states such as India.

India currently imports about 78% of its annual crude oil requirements, and rising – a huge drain on national resources. An imaginative climate change strategy would address this dependence head on, and chart a path towards a low-carbon economic future that had more of a chance of meeting the energy needs both of industry and of India’s masses.

To help deliver this, the Prime Minister’s Office should create a new national policy platform, involving the four key energy ministries: Power, Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas, and New and Renewable Energy; as well as the departments responsible for India’s three-stage nuclear programme.

India needs to make major investments in infrastructure and transportation systems. We need to ensure that these are climate-resilient, and cost- and energy-efficient over the long-term. Government leadership could facilitate this by creating national frameworks, setting guidelines, and incentivising public and private investments.

Prioritising low-carbon technologies today will yield benefits tomorrow in the form of an industrial economy much more ready to compete in a carbon-constrained future. It will add rather than depreciate value for the country.

Studies have shown the diversity of measures that can be taken today. For example, all new housing stock could be built to the highest possible standards of energy efficiency, and integrate microgeneration technologies such as solar and wind power. Combining this with technologies such as solar hot water systems and energy-efficient electrical goods can greatly reduce future energy demands and associated carbon emissions. We have seen that this is already an area where Indian enterprise is alive and well. Government leadership to incentivise these sectors could reap dividends in climate security, employment generation and economic development.

But leadership need not only come from central government. In India, state-level responsibilities are considerable and it may just be a question of time before – as in the US – we see a clamour for change at the sub-national level, and mayors and municipal leaders begin to rise to the challenge themselves.

Dealing with climate change could help provide India with a new sense of national purpose. But it demands that each one of us ask more of ourselves. The gains are there to be realised. What are we waiting for?

Malini Mehra is CEO of the Centre for Social Markets, based in Kolkata.www.csmworld.org