Union budget and budgetary allocations for climate action

The IPCC recently released its bleakest warning to date, and the study portrays a dismal picture.
The 4 key takeaways from the 2022 report are as below – 

1) The window to act and reverse the deadly impacts of the climate crisis is shrinking. Gases have a long life in the atmosphere and once emitted, temperatures are bound to rise. The only solution to this is to reduce their emissions. 

2) Half of the world’s population is already highly vulnerable to catastrophic changes. 

3) The poorest people in the planet will be disproportionately affected. They are the victims, whose lives will be ruined despite the fact that they did not contribute to the greenhouse gas stock.

4) Climate-related relocation will accelerate, resulting in increased global instability and tensions.

India, global climate leader and a greenhouse gas emitter, has a responsibility to bring better climate action plans and contributions to COP27 to get the world on the essential 1.5 degree Celsius trajectory.

India's global climate pledges were undoubtedly given top importance in the Union budget address for 2022-23, but I feel the government fell short of making the necessary investments to climate action sectors such as renewable energy, sustainability, and so on. Apart from that, in areas where budgetary commitments were made, such as electric automobiles, there was a lack of a comprehensive action plan to lead efficient implementation.

With such low budget allocations, India will never be able to accelerate its progress. The focus now should be on aligning India's domestic policy decisions and expenditure to the global climate commitments. Structural and conceptual framework and policies are required to advance towards meeting the climate pledges.

1) Redefine growth-
India continues to grapple from the struggle between development (infrastructure, jobs, economic boost) versus the environmental footprint of the development. The question that has remained unanswered is whether buildings are planned and maintained with an eye towards resource conservation over the life of the infrastructure? Climate change statements in the budget were rarely linked with economic growth and vice versa. It's past time for us to realize that the two are inextricably linked, and that a minor change in one has an impact on the other. India must move away from using GDP data to measure economic progress, and instead use sustainable, inclusive, and green indicators. This would allow us to measure the quality of growth by capturing the linkages between the economic, social, and environmental pillars of development.

2) Bring in greater synergy-
In this year's budget, the government has been very consistent in making public investments for modern, sustainable infrastructure, however there is a lack of synergy on how we as a nation are going to tackle the adverse climatic, environmental and socioeconomic impacts of climate change like displacement. A separate climate ministry, in my opinion, would help achieve this goal.

3) Shift the focus from mitigation strategy to one that accords adaptation and resilience-
By 2100, India is expected to lose 3-10 percent of its GDP yearly, necessitating resilience as a climate action approach. The budget included numerous mitigation initiatives, such as a target of 280 GW of solar energy by 2030, significant investments in the electric vehicle industry, and so on. However,  Budgetary allocations for biodiversity protection and a national adaptation strategy were not considered and were significantly slashed. Financial assistance to ministries and councils such as the Solar Energy Council and the CPCB was also restricted. These institutions play an indispensable role in assisting with adaptation and resilience initiatives and must be strengthened. 

4) Adopt mechanisms that attract climate finance-
One of the main reasons we haven't been able to make progress toward our objectives is because the majority of global climate funding comes from private investors. The government and public sectors must enhance spending and initiatives in support of climate-based projects. It must spot, support and scale up some of the promising innovations at the grassroots level. 

With the implementation of the aforementioned initiatives, India's existing global climate obligations and local policy decisions will become more cohesive, aligned and consistent.