Climate change is nothing but the rise in the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere due to an increase in the level of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, etc. Due to anthropological 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 is mainly atrributed to 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 and degradation 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.
This is a cause of major hindrance in the development process of a country like India and can be seen as unfair on the part of the developed nations to slow down the pace of development in such nations at such a crucial stage.
India has taken major steps in reducing its carbon emissions though it is not bound by legal agreements to cut down its carbon emissions, . India signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on June 10, 1992 and ratified it on November 1, 1993. India hosted the eighth Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in October 2002 in Delhi. It signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, one of the most important international agreements on climate change on August 26th, 2002. In pursuance of the goals of implementing the provisions of the UNFCCC Convention, a project was initiated towards preparation of India's National Communication on sources of greenhouse gas emissions (NATCOM) to the UNFCCC through the United Nations Development Programme. The Global Environmental Facility is funding many projects that India has taken up with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These projects are mostly related to small-scale projects which are largely based on renewable energy sources.
India’s power sector, already plagued with problems does not have to intensify its problems multifold by committing itself to inject huge financial resources in developing alternate forms of energy or clean environment-friendly technology.
Though India understands the gravity of the situation, the mitigation of climate change at the cost of its development seems like an unfair bargain. The major emitters of the previous century which increased their carbon emissions incessantly to pursue the path of rapid development cannot expect developing countries to forget their own development to clean up the developed countries’ mess.
India, being a fast growing economy has many obligations towards its own citizens to provide them with better standards of living which can only be obtained through a massive expansion of the economy. The wealth of the country needs to be increased and distributed in a holistic manner to decrease the problems of poverty and low standard of living prevalent in majority of the population. India’s infrastructure sector which is the major driver of economic growth cannot be unnecessarily burdened with the monumental task of mitigating climate change and incurring huge financial expenditure in the process when it itself is financially starved and in need of assistance from private sector.
Thus, India being a minor contributor to the world’s GHG emissions and having one of the lowest per-capita emissions in the world, should be allowed to follow the development path and achieve high levels of GDP growth rate in order to meet the demands of its population and provide its citizens with a high standard of living without incurring huge financial expenditure on climate change mitigation which proves to be an impediment in the growth story of the country. They should be allowed to emit at an increased rate as necessitated by the development process the same way in which developed countries did in their developing phase.
