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New Energy World magazine logo
New Energy World magazine logo
ISSN 2753-7757 (Online)

India’s net zero ambitions: does development sacrifice equity?

28/9/2022

6 min read

View along retaining wall of hydopower dam in India Photo: Pixabay
Hydropower produces electricity without CO2 emissions, but reservoirs created for dams emit large quantities of methane

Photo: Pixabay

India’s approach to climate change reveals a conflict between sustaining economic development, providing equity for its people and reducing the impacts of climate change. So discusses Jitendra Bisht, independent researcher and writer based in New Delhi.

On 5 April 2022, India’s Environment Minister Bhupinder Yadav welcomed the Working Group III contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) saying: ‘The report underlines the need for deep and urgent global emissions reduction, and justifies India’s emphasis on equity at all scales in climate action and sustainable development.’

 

The following day, the government of Chhattisgarh in central India gave final approval for the Parsa opencast coal mining project in the biodiversity-rich Hasdeo forests in the northern part of the state. The clearance would allow Adani Group, the conglomerate with developer-cum-operator rights to the mine, to use over 841 hectares of pristine forest land for non-forestry purposes.

 

The tribal communities that call this area home have been protesting for over a decade against Parsa and two other mining projects which, activists claim, would not only displace hundreds of families, but also wipe out over 450,000 trees.

 

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