The State of Climate Governance: India & World

Syllabus: GS3/Environment

Context

• Global climate governance has gained renewed attention due to repeated shortfalls in international climate negotiations, particularly at recent Conferences of the Parties (COPs).
• COP30 reinforced the perception of global climate governance, the gap between climate ambition and real-world action continues to widen, despite decades of negotiations under the UNFCCC.

About Global Climate Governance

• It is primarily anchored in the UNFCCC, operationalised through instruments such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, and administered via COP meetings.
• They rely heavily on nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and consensus-based decision-making while these frameworks provide near-universal participation.

Current Status & Future Projections

• According to the Emissions Gap Report 2024 of UNEP, global greenhouse gas emissions reached about 57.4 GtCO₂e, the highest ever recorded.
  • At the current trajectory, the world is projected to breach the 1.5°C threshold in the early 2030s, well ahead of political expectations.
• Global emissions continue to rise, and scientific projections indicate that the 1.5°C temperature threshold is likely to be crossed in the early 2030s.
  • The existing governance system risks becoming a forum for negotiation without delivery without binding commitments, enforceable compliance mechanisms, and adequate finance.
• Developing countries require $2.4–3 trillion annually for mitigation and adaptation, while current climate finance flows remain below $400 billion.
  • COP30 offered encouragement, not obligation, no binding timelines, no agreed contributors, and no clarity on scale.
• Despite this, no COP decision has created enforceable obligations that match the scale or urgency of the crisis.
• Future projections suggest that unless structural changes occur, climate governance will continue to generate ambitious language while emissions, vulnerabilities, and inequalities rise in parallel.

India & Climate Governance

• India is a signatory to the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, and Paris Agreement, and has submitted updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Its current commitments include:
  • Reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 45% from 2005 levels by 2030;
  • Achieving about 50% cumulative installed power capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030;
  • Reaching net-zero emissions by 2070;
• India has made notable progress in renewable energy expansion, especially solar and wind, and has emerged as a global leader in solar deployment.
• However, absolute emissions continue to rise due to development needs, coal dependence, urbanisation, and industrial growth.

Concerns & Issues Surrounding Global Climate Governance

• Politics over urgency: National interests consistently override collective climate action. Consensus decision-making, often praised as cooperative, effectively grants every country a veto.
• Science vs Politics: What persists is not scientific uncertainty but the politics of uncertainty, where doubt is repurposed to justify delay and diffuse responsibility.
  • Governing a long-term planetary crisis within short political cycles remains an unresolved contradiction.
• Economics of opportunism: Markets reward short-term profits, not long-term planetary stability. Future generations are not market participants and therefore not accounted for.
• Marginalisation of citizens: For most people, climate change remains abstract until disaster strikes. Daily needs like food, housing, health, jobs take precedence over distant climate risks.
• Misuse of uncertainty: Scientific uncertainty is no longer the problem; political use of uncertainty is. It is repeatedly repurposed to justify delay and deflect responsibility.
• Inadequate justice mechanisms: Loss and damage funds exist institutionally, but remain financially insignificant relative to escalating climate disasters.

Related Efforts & Initiatives

• Mitigation: Countries were urged to enhance ambition, but no new obligations were created.
  • Even explicit fossil-fuel language failed to make it into binding text.
• Climate Finance: While the need is estimated at $2.4–3 trillion annually for developing countries, current flows remain under $400 billion, with no agreement on who pays, how much, or by when.
• Adaptation: Pledges to ‘triple’ adaptation finance lacked baselines, timelines, or binding sources, rendering them aspirational.
• Loss and Damage: A new fund was operationalised, but with limited capitalisation, far below projected needs.
• Technology Transfer & Capacity Building: New platforms and programmes were announced, but without the financial backing required for real-world impact.
• Just Transition: Rights and principles were acknowledged, but without binding commitments or resources to ensure justice in practice.
• COP30 delivered what it was structurally designed to deliver:
  • The ‘Global Mutirão’ package emphasizes cooperation and togetherness, but remaining largely voluntary.
  • Calls to triple adaptation finance, without defining baselines, funding sources, or binding commitments.
  • Formal operationalisation of the loss and damage fund, though capitalisation remains modest.
  • New platforms and programmes on technology transfer, capacity building, and just transition, all rich in language but poor in resources.
  • Expanded frameworks and indicators, often hastily assembled and disconnected from financing plans.

India’s  Initiatives

• National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC): Eight National Missions covering solar energy, energy efficiency, water, agriculture, and sustainable habitats.
• State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs): Frameworks for sub-national climate governance, though implementation varies.
• International Solar Alliance (ISA): India-led initiative promoting solar deployment in developing countries.
• Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE): Behavioural change initiative emphasising sustainable consumption.
• Green Hydrogen Mission: Aims to decarbonise industry and transport while building future-ready energy systems.
• Climate Finance Instruments: Use of green bonds and blended finance, though scale remains limited.

Way Forward

• The UNFCCC and the COP process remain indispensable despite its flaws. No alternative forum, whether the G7, G20, BRICS, or ad hoc coalitions, offers the same universality, legitimacy, or legal foundation. There is a need for climate stability. Key reforms include:
  • Move Beyond Voluntarism: Binding commitments, especially on emissions reduction and finance, need to replace polite encouragement.
  • Revisit Decision-Making: Consensus should not function as a universal veto. Flexible voting mechanisms may be necessary for progress.
  • Anchor Finance in Obligation: Climate finance needs to shift from pledges to predictable, assessed contributions linked to responsibility and capability.
  • Prioritise Adaptation and Loss & Damage: As warming accelerates, all countries need to prepare to adapt, whether or not global agreements succeed.
  • Re-centre People: Climate policy needs to connect with everyday livelihoods, making citizens stakeholders rather than afterthoughts.
  • Reassert common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR): Developed countries need to acknowledge historical responsibility with predictable finance and technology support.

Source: TH