India Declared As The Most Vulnerable Country To Climate Change; Farmers To Be Worst Hit

Long regarded as a laggard in the fight against climate change, India is building massive solar stations, driving urban revolution in renewable energy and reducing it's dependence on coal and other carbon-spewing fossil fuels, the primary culprit behind the warming planet.

But that doesn¡¯t seem to be enough for controlling climate change.

While as per reports, India needs at least $2.5 trillion to meet its 2030 climate change targets, a survey conducted by the HSBC bank showed that India is the most vulnerable country to climate change, followed by Pakistan, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

The bank assessed 67 developed, emerging and frontier markets on vulnerability to the physical impacts of climate change, sensitivity to extreme weather events, exposure to energy transition risks and ability to respond to climate change.

Reuters

The 67 nations represent almost a third of the world's nation states, 80 per cent of the global population and 94 per cent of global gross domestic product.

In India, climate change could cut agricultural incomes, especially the areas not been irrigated, would be hit hardest by rising temperatures and declines in rainfall.

Climate change has emerged as a serious threat to the world over the last decade, and India ¨C owing to its high levels of pollution ¨C has been severely affected, with temperatures constantly on the rise. Due to the constant changes in climate, farmers in India have had to cope with severe situations in the past.

Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines are susceptible to extreme weather events, such as storms and flooding.

AFP

According to the survey, Pakistan was ranked least well-equipped to respond to climate risks among the surveyed nations.

South and southeast Asian countries accounted for half of the 10 most vulnerable countries. Oman, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Mexico, Kenya and South Africa are also in this group.

The five countries least vulnerable to climate change risk are Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia and New Zealand.

Thanks to efforts in the solar energy sector, India surged past Japan last year to become the world's third-biggest market for solar power, after China and the United States.

PM Modi has called for generating 100 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2022 ¡ª nearly 30 times what it had three years ago, and equivalent to the entire energy output of Spain.

AFP

Despite the efforts, India needs to do more to control climate change and the first step towards it is awareness. India needs to pump its solar and wind energy to provide electricity to the economy expanding roughly 7 per cent annually.

Coal still accounts for 58% of India's power, while wind provides 10% and solar 5%, according to government figures.