India’s “green growth”: is the green skin-deep?
– Payal Agarwal, Deputy Manager | corplaw@vinodkothari.com
Talking about green growth may seem like rhetoric. From policy-makers to economists, from corporate governance experts to environmentalists, everyone seems to be having “green growth” on the top of the agenda.
The Economic Survey dedicated a full chapter to climate change and related issues. The Budget also has green growth as one of the seven saptarishis, to guide the FM’s plans for our financial future.
Need of the hour
India has been taking small steps towards reaching its commitment to the net-zero emissions goal by 2070, as compared to a majority of countries committing to reach the net-zero targets by 2050. While the country contributes to a very low percentage of global emissions (only 4% of the cumulative global emissions from the period 1850-2019[1]), the global nature of the problem of climate change is what makes the country equally vulnerable to the problem, if not more. Further, given its long coastline, monsoon-dependent agriculture, and large agrarian economy, India is considered to be one of the most vulnerable countries to the climate change issue[2].
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