From India, a climate warning for Europe.
The EU’s top global warming advisory body, the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), has called on the bloc’s members to find ways to deal with rising temperatures. The agency’s advice to prepare for a temperature rise of about 2.8 degrees Celsius by 2100 is particularly sobering. For decades, Europe’s climate policy has focused on emissions reduction commitments. The advisory, issued on Tuesday, acknowledges that mitigation must be accompanied by measures to build resilience against the worst effects of a warming world. It is also a tacit recognition that the Paris Pact’s ambition of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is increasingly out of reach.
Most studies identify Europe as the fastest-warming continent. Floods, lethal heatwaves and devastating forest fires almost every year of this decade are warnings that EU policymakers have to find ways to save lives and protect livelihoods. Their counterparts in India face similar challenges. Extreme weather events tend to mirror across continents in terms of intensity and unpredictability. That’s why ESABCC’s recommendations to embed climate resilience in initiatives across policy domains ring true for planners across the world.
That said, the social and economic contexts within which meteorological phenomena unfold are vastly different. EU nations have effective early warning systems, and their social safety nets are stronger compared to those in countries of the Global South. Agriculture in EU countries contributes a far smaller share to GDP and employs a significantly lower proportion of the population compared to India. Planners in almost every part of the world must balance the needs of coping with the climate with the imperatives of creating jobs, infrastructure and public services. However, in developing countries, policymakers have to protect vulnerable populations while continuing to lay the foundations for economic prosperity. They may be better placed in one respect, though. Much of Europe’s highways, buildings, rail tracks, water and energy supply systems were built for a stable climate. India’s infrastructure development, in contrast, is still a work in progress. ESABCC’s warning should, therefore, push planners to incorporate climate resilience into development projects at the outset.