About Climate Change and Energy
Climate change has become an issue of grave concern globally, especially in the developing world. South Asian countries including India are particularly vulnerable to repercussions of climate change.
India has reasons to be concerned about climate change because its large population depends on climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture and forestry for its livelihood. Climate change impacts present formidable short-term and long-term risks to India in terms of disruption of ecosystem services, loss of bio-diversity and breakdown of traditional livelihoods systems across different geographies and regions. At a macro level, climate change is likely to have significant adverse impacts on the food, water and energy security of the nation, threatening to disrupt the current pace of social and economic growth.
There is an intrinsic relationship between climate change and energy. Energy accounts to almost 60 per cent of emissions globally and thus, tackling emissions from energy becomes crucial for climate mitigation. In particular, for India, the energy sector contributes to 67 per cent of the total GHG emissions (excluding Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry-LULUCF).
For India, access to sustainable energy is very important as over 300 million people in India still do not have access to electricity. There is a constant struggle over a declining resource base that is further being degraded by the impacts of climate change. While the country has had high imports of oil, coal imports have also started increasing in recent years, thereby affecting the energy security profile of the country. Our dependence on fossil-based fuels is the most significant contributor to climate change; hence addressing this energy issue becomes fundamental to tackling climate change.
There is an intrinsic relationship between climate change and energy. Energy accounts to almost 60 per cent of emissions globally and thus, tackling emissions from energy becomes crucial for climate mitigation. In particular, for India, the energy sector contributes to 67 per cent of the total GHG emissions (excluding Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry-LULUCF).
For India, access to sustainable energy is very important as over 300 million people in India still do not have access to electricity. There is a constant struggle over a declining resource base that is further being degraded by the impacts of climate change. While the country has had high imports of oil, coal imports have also started increasing in recent years, thereby affecting the energy security profile of the country. Our dependence on fossil-based fuels is the most significant contributor to climate change; hence addressing this energy issue becomes fundamental to tackling climate change.
An melting ice sculpture, symbolically calling all for action and placed by a coalition of climate groups on a map of the world
