Despite its stated aim, budget falls short on green ambitions

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The recent budget has Climate action as one of its prime objectives, still, there has been a massive rise in allocation for infrastructure projects which may have huge environmental implications.

What are the limitations due to which the current budget may fail on its green agenda?

Direct allocations for the environment sector– The share of Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is just 0.08 per cent of the total budgetary outlay. The allocation for tackling air pollution has been reduced although it has now been widely acknowledged as a national emergency.

Allocations for environment in non-environment sectors-Although there is a focus on natural and organic farming, and on promoting millets in the budget but there are no details on the allocations, manure and markets.

Rainfed farming involves 60 percent of the farming population and is ecologically more sustainable but the budget has not focused on this front.

Although the government has been promoting chemical-free farming throughout the country, the budget has allotted a massive amount as a chemical fertilizer subsidy instead of shifting this subsidy to organics.

The positive provisions in the budget like the use of biomass for power stations, boost to batteries, energy efficiency, etc. will be overshadowed by the budgetary support to climate-unfriendly investments.

Budget allocated higher allocations for Renewable and “clean” energy but it is in the form of support for mega-parks in solar/wind energy, nuclear power, and large hydro that have serious ecological impacts. Instead of this, the government may focus on farm-level solar pumps and rooftop solar that have less ecological impacts and greater community access.

Allocation for National Climate Action Plan is also low and there is no focus on a “just transition” that could help workers in fossil fuel sectors, like coal, to transition to jobs in cleaner, greener sectors.

Budget does promise greater support for public transport but it is mostly for the metros, which are extremely carbon-intensive to construct. Instead, there could have been a focus on a full bus system, cycling and walking ecosystem.

Allocations for other sectors with environmental impacts– Much of the support for the Infrastructure sector is for the mega-projects. A focus on decentralised, sustainable, and community-oriented infrastructure is missing.

Finally, the budget misses out on a major shift to “green jobs”. This includes support to decentralised (including handmade) production of textiles, footwear, and other products.

Source– This post is based on the article “Despite its stated aim, budget falls short on green ambitions” published in Indian express on 25^th Feb 2022.