Dhurjati Mukherjee
Seas are rising, forests are burning and governments are still courting fossil fuel companies as if none of this is happening. As the Earth crossed a crucial, irreversible climate tipping point, the scale of destruction seems too vast and the climate-deniers too influential to foresee the looming environmental crisis. The future scenario appears grim but governments the world over are in no way seriously concerned about it.
As regards India is concerned, it reported the highest absolute increase in emissions – with an addition of 165 million tonnes of greenhouse gas during 2023-24 — followed by China, Russia, Indonesia and the US, as per the recently released UN Emissions Gap Report 2025. The traditional high emission industries, including aluminium, cement and pulp and paper will have to reduce the intensity of their greenhouse gas emissions to meet specific targets.
Meanwhile, the air quality not just in Delhi but also in Kolkata has been deteriorating though the onset of winter is at least three weeks away. Obviously, the control of emissions is not up to the mark despite various regulations. It needs to be reiterated that the monitoring mechanism regarding environmental guidelines and laws remains much to be desired.
In India’s resolve to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, the spotlight has largely been on renewable energy, carbon markets and industrial decarbonisation. As of now, it appears that the target set is quite challenging, but these are, no doubt, essential. However, there is another facet relating to public procurement, which incidentally is a significant contributor to the country’s emission footprint. Procurement decisions cannot ignore environmental factors, making future carbonisation costlier and more complex. This is especially important in areas of public transport, construction materials or the long-term performance of public buildings.
India is not a signatory to the WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement and there is no unified national law either in this regard. Meanwhile, the EU has embedded environmental standards into its procurement system. Also, South Korea, way back in 2005, encourages agencies to set voluntary green procurement targets and rewarded high performers with fiscal incentives. In view of this, India could adopt a somewhat similar approach, at least in some sectors.
It has been estimated that a 15-20% cut in procurement linked emissions in line with international benchmarks could avoid 88-115 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent annually. Even a modest 1% improvement in procurement efficiency could save around Rs 70,000 crore. Experts have rightly suggested that sustainability criteria should be embedded in tender templates, compliance monitored and performance publicly reported. Thus, it is expected that in the coming years green procurement would be adhered to cut emissions, driving innovation and building a green economy.
As has been pointed out in earlier reports and in the present one, the updated pledges are not adequate enough to get the desirable of keeping global warming within 2 degrees Celsius thus, controlling the escalation of emissions is indeed quite challenging, considering areas such as transport, construction and industrial sectors are not monitored strictly. The lack of a strong governance mechanism, deep-rooted corruption of officials and an unholy nexus between political leaders and businessmen are obviously the reasons for slackness in controlling emissions. And it is the poor and marginalised sections who are most affected in various ways due to uncontrolled emissions and have to bear the brunt of the business houses who are all out to maximise profit without bothering for the community.
Why can’t the Indian government implement the ‘polluter pays’ principle, which is being talked and accepted the world over? Is it because the government does not want to be strict on business houses from which political funding comes? This obviously cannot continue, when the looming environmental crisis is accentuating at a fast pace and affecting the lives of the people in different ways every year. It is time that the government changes its stand and acts tough by taking a strong stand to save the country from impending disaster and the looming environmental crisis.
—INFA