The century’s most pressing crisis is here

The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its sixth assessment report (AR6) on Monday. In the next 20 years, the world will exceed the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold set in the Paris Climate Agreement (2015). If the current rate of emissions continues, global warming will be above 2 degrees Celsius by 2100. With every 1 degree rise, there will be a 7% increase in the intensification of extreme rain events. Some changes — increase in sea level rise, melting of glaciers and thawing of permafrost — have already caused a rupture.

The new report is a wake-up call. While India is the third-highest annual polluter of CO2, the scale of its contribution is insignificant. New Delhi must stick to the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities, but at the same time raise its climate ambitions. It has made progress in its efforts towards decoupling economic growth from emissions and has played a leadership role in launching initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance, Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, and raising the domestic renewable energy target to 450 GW by 2030. But there is scope to do more in several other sectors: Mobility, housing, and affordable energy. To give shape to these ambitions, it is also imperative, as climate expert Navroz Dubash wrote in these pages, to build and strengthen domestic institutions for climate governance. The climate crisis requires both looking across boundaries (international and national) and building a strategic focus on future development pathways. This is the 21st century’s most pressing crisis.