Worried about climate change? There is more bad news for India

According to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report released on Monday, India will see increased heat waves and heavy rainfall events, while glaciers will melt further along with more compound events from rising sea-levels like flooding.

"There is no good news for India in this report. In fact, everything about India is bad news," said Chandra Bhushan, Enviornmentalist & CEO, iForest on ET Now's India Development Debate.

The latest IPCC report shows that glaciers in the Lahaul-Spiti region of western Himalaya have been losing mass since the start of the 21st century. If emissions do not fall, glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya would decline by two-thirds.


This report is no different from the others, according to Bhushan. The only difference is the level of confidence and certainty the scientists' warning comes with: There will be a 1.5 degree Celsius temperature rise well before 2040, and if we do nothing, we will hit a 2-degree Celsius rise between 2040 to 2060.

The report comes at a very important juncture where the world is experiencing major weather events. India has faced its own set of cyclones and floods in the span of a few months.

If the clarion call is not heeded, the weather events of today may end up looking like a cakewalk compared to what's in store for India, Bhushan believes. "From a communication perspective, this is a perfect time to tell the world what you are doing as far as climate crisis is concerned."

Attitudes are changing with active participation from world governments through the Paris Agreement, and from companies trying to achieve net-zero emissions, etc.

"Some of the companies have gone far ahead and have actively taken individual actions to align themselves to a net zero target by 2050," said Damandeep Singh, Carbon Disclosure Project, India. The Indian govt is one of the few to not have a committed target.

India Inc has complained about the lack of national policy drivers to combat climate change, some even going as far as having internal regulating policies.

"We find 58 companies that have an internal carbon price, wherein they are taxing themselves and keeping the revenue for the green initiatives," said Singh.

However, "they are be too slow and too incremental. They are not exponential, they are not adding up," he added.

"What IPCC tells us with increased scientific certainty is that this is going to happen and we have been working with companies to ask them to take science-based targets."