Balancing Development and Sustainability

Source-This post on Balancing Development and Sustainability has been created based on the article “Economic Survey shows what India gets right — and developed nations get wrong — about climate change” published in “The Indian Express” on 23 July 2024.

UPSC Syllabus-GS Paper-3- Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.

Context- India has low per-capita carbon emissions (~2.5 tons) compared to the global average of 6.3 tons. As the world’s fifth-largest economy currently, India is poised to become the third largest by 2030, with its energy demands projected to grow 1.5 times faster than the global average over the next three decades.

What are the issues with global climate pledges and strategies?

1) Criticism of The Economic Survey-It criticizes global climate pledges for being too small in scale, often given as loans rather than grants, and prioritizing profit over environmental improvement. Recent discussions at COP29 also revealed reluctance among developed countries to commit to binding contributions.

2) Optimal Strategies -Climate adaptation adjusts to climate change impacts, while climate mitigation aims to reduce its causes. However, there isn’t enough focus on whether these strategies are truly optimal.

3) Sustainability Oversights and Emissions Comparison -Climate advocates often ignore simple sustainable practices such as plant-based diets, efficient farming, reduced consumption, and assessing energy-intensive technologies. While the developed world evaluates progress per capita in various areas, it doesn’t consistently use this method to compare emissions.

What should be the way forward?

1) Embracing Natural Living Practices -There is a need to adopt a lifestyle aligned with nature rather than solely prioritizing industrial methods. Many Indians already practice sustainability by using cloth for cleaning, choosing leaf plates instead of plastic, employing water-based toilet cleaning systems, and reusing household items.

2) Embracing Sustainable Living Practices -It is important to adopt sustainable strategies such as plant-based eating, efficient farming, reduced consumption, minimizing the use of disposable products like toilet paper, and critically evaluating energy-intensive technologies.

3) Sustainability and Mission LiFE -India should not adopt unsustainable, energy-intensive practices like developed nations. Sustainability stems from traditional values that emphasize the impact of small actions. Mission LiFE, initiated by India at COP-26, highlights individual responsibility in the global climate agenda.

Read More- Mission LiFE

4) Excessive Consumption and Waste -There is a need to dig deeper and investigate the roots of excessive consumption and the habit of wastefully discarding usable items.

Question for practice

What are the challenges associated with global climate commitments and strategies? What is the path forward?