Climate change arising due to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the pre-industrial times has emerged as a serious global environmental issue and poses a threat and challenge to mankind. THE rising concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) of anthropogenic origin in the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have increased, since the late 19th century. According to the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, because of the increase in concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (for e.g., CO2 by 29 per cent, CH4 by 150 per cent and N2O by 15 per cent) in the last 100 years, the mean surface
temperature has risen by 0.4–0.8°C globally. The precipitation has become spatially variable and the intensity and frequency of extreme events has increased. The sea level also has risen at an average annual rate of 1–2 mm during this period. The continued increase in concentration of GHG in the atmosphere is likely to lead to climate change resulting in large changes in ecosystems, leading to possible catastrophic disruptions of livelihoods, economic activity, living conditions, and human health.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change requires the parties to protect the climate system in accordance with their ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’and respective capabilities. It enjoins upon developed countries to take the lead role for combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof, considering their historically higher contribution to the total anthropogenic load of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The Indian Government has targeted an 8% GDP growth rate per annum for 2002–07 to achieve its development priorities. In order to achieve these developmental aspirations, substantial additional energy consumption will be necessary and coal, being the abundant domestic energy resource, would continue to play a dominant role. Since GHGs emissions are directly linked to economic growth, India’s economic activities will necessarily involve increase in GHGs emissions from the current levels. The CO2 equivalent emissions from India are set to increase up to 3000 million tonnes by 2020. Any constraint will hamper the economic development.
The compounded annual growth rate of CO2 equivalent emissions from India between 1990 and 2000 (preliminary estimates made by authors) show an overall increase by 4.2 per cent per annum. On a sectoral basis, the maximum growth in emissions is from the industrial process sector (21.3 per cent per annum), followed by the emissions from the waste sector (7.3 per cent per annum). The energy sector emissions have only grown by 4.4 per cent per annum with almost no increase in emissions registered from the agriculture sector. Significant increase in emissions from the industrial process sector can be attributed to the growth in cement and steel production in India over the decade. Similarly, increase in emissions from the waste sector can be attributed to increase in quantity of waste generated due to the large influx of population from villages to cities in 2000 with respect to 1990, where because of systematic waste disposal practices, anaerobic conditions are created leading to CH4 emissions.
The total amount of GHGs emitted in India, was 1228 million tonnes, which accounted for only 3 per cent of the total global emissions, and of which 63 per cent was emitted as CO2, 33 per cent as CH4, and the rest 4 per cent as N2O. The GHG emissions in the years 1990, 1994 and 2000 increased from 988 to 1228 to 1484 million tonnes respectively and the compounded annual growth rate of these emissions between 1990 and 2000 has been 4.2 percent. The Indian GHG emissions are projected to increase by almost three times with respect to the 1990 emissions in 2020. It is perceived that the various climate-friendly initiatives introduced, such as enhancement of energy efficiency, promotion of use of renewable energy resources and introduction of environmental measures such as enhancement of afforested land area will address such climate change issues effectively.
These conscious decisions require committing substantial resources for climate-friendly sustainable development.
(Source: Sharma, Bhattacharya, and Amit Garg. SPECIAL SECTION: CLIMATE CHANGE AND INDIA. CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 90, NO. 3, 10 FEBRUARY 2006)
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