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Climate change will impact India more, says UNIDO

NEW DELHI: The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) said here on Thursday that climate change was likely to have a greater impact on India compared to other countries similarly positioned, on account of the unique combination of its geography, diverse population characteristics and extremely high carbon-related energy dependence.

According to a statement from the South Asia regional office of the UNIDO, the dependence on fossil fuels was exceptionally high, and this could lead to heavy environmental, social and regulatory costs causing a drain on the nation’s resources as a direct impact of climate change over the next century.

The UNIDO has based its assessment on the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) 2007 of the U.K.

According to calculations done by the CDP, the cost of climate change could have a major impact on the Indian economy by causing 9 to 13 per cent loss in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in real terms by 2100.

Other impacts could be a higher increase in temperature as predicted by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), rapidly changing and increasingly unpredictable patterns of monsoon and rainfall, and decline in crop yields up to 30 per cent by 2080.

The increased retreat of the Himalayan glaciers would reduce fresh water sources , cause incidence of more severe vector-borne diseases including dengue, bacterial and viral diseases, and increased frequency of extreme weather conditions. According to the IPCC, India would experience the greatest increase in energy and greenhouse gas emissions if it sustained 8 per cent annual economic growth or more as its primary energy demand would then multiply at least three to four times its present levels.

The UNIDO is playing a proactive role by promoting projects relating to cleaner production, renewable energy and industrial energy efficiency.

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