India reportedly doesn’t want to join Global Cooling Pledge to reduce cooling related emissions at COP-28 meeting citing the needs of its population to have affordable cooling solutions. Notably, India’s annual per capita emission is just 1.7 metric tonne which pales in comparison to those of developed countries (for instance US emits greater than 20 metric tonne per capita).
India has been a leader in sustainability initiatives with two of its flagship initiatives- India Solar Alliance, Global Biofuel Alliance being a hit. To maintain a reputation of being flagbearer of sustainability initiatives, India is expected to have agreed to join COP-28’s Global Cooling Pledge but as per reports it won’t be so. There are many reasons which make this stance easy to digest.
1.) India has a very underpenetrated market in cooling systems: In recent years, India has witnessed a substantial surge in urbanization, and projections suggest that by 2050, more than 52% of the population, or over 876 million individuals, will call cities their home. Despite this urban shift, the current adoption of air conditioning units in India remains quite modest, hovering at a mere 7-9%, signifying a relatively low market penetration. Joining Global Cooling pledge would mean an increase in compliance cost thus making cooling solutions unaffordable for majority population.
2.) Developing vs Developed Divide: Top two countries by population, India and China, which reportedly are amongst the heaviest emitters are still in their developing phase. The basic idea behind any of the Sustainability initiative in the past has been that Developed nations would be funding the costs required for developing nations’ transition to a more sustainable future but such pledges distribute the responsibility equally across the nations thus disrespecting the theme of equity which is one of the basic pillars of any global initiative.
3) India is going to be one amongst worst impacted by climate change because of its tropical location and long coastline. India’s priority should be to meet its domestic population needs over trying to maintain its reputation by joining such global pledges where basic pillars of equity aren’t being followed. Besides, India has been doing enough to help our world meet its sustainability targets (for instance- huge investment in solar energy production and distribution, blending of petrol with biofuels, successfully meeting its NDC in advance and revising it consequently etc).
While India’s response to GCP- COP28 might come as a surprise to some, it looks like the right thing especially given the tight constraints within which we have to navigate as a nation.