Next generation will grow up in
a world which will be far hotter: State of India’s Environment report
NIMLI (Rajasthan), : Our next generation will grow up in a world that will be far hotter. Generation Alpha will inherit a profound loss in a planet that is much warmer and climatologically changed, says the State of India’s Environment 2025 report, released at this year’s Anil Agarwal Dialogue (AAD) 2025.
The report is published
annually by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) andDown To Earth
magazine.
The AAD 2025 is a signature
event of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) at its facility, the Anil
Agarwal Environment Training Institute (AAETI), located in Nimli, near Alwar in
Rajasthan.
India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh
Kant, former deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission Montek Singh
Ahluwalia, management and financial guru Raj Liberhan, and CSE director general
SunitaNarain released the report jointly.
Over 80 journalists and more
than 20 subject experts from across India come together to discuss and
understand the environmental issues and concerns that India faces. The annual
conclave is for journalists from India who write on environment and development
issues.
SIKKIM EXPRESS reporter
Isabella Gurung is representing Sikkim at the conclave being held from February
25-28.
“There is good and bad news as
we move ahead in 2025. The good news is there is increased environmental
consciousness. The 2025 Delhi assembly elections told us that clean air, clean
Yamuna, and garbage on the streets were issues that voters were concerned
about. Governments are introducing programs for the environment; farmers care
about their soil and water; and industry needs resource security without any
conflicts. On the ‘bad news’ front, we are saddled with programs that are not
ambitious enough, institutions that are weak, and a way of environmental
management that is expensive and non-inclusive,” said SunitaNarain, director
general, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
Addressing the assembled media
persons, Kant said, “If in India, 42 of our cities are among the world’s 50
most polluted ones, this points to a huge failure of municipal governance. We
need to replicate successful models of cities like Surat and Indore.”
Ahluwalia focused on two
critical aspects: that of water use and pricing and of industrial pollution. He
pointed out, “With time, water issues will become worse. We have to recognize
that water has to be economized—either you nationalize and ration the entire
water supply or you price water adequately… With industry, there should be
absolutely no compromise on pollution and wastewater. The polluter must
pay—regardless of whether they are small or large.”
Warmest
year on record
The State of India’s
Environment report quotes the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change
Service, which says that 2024 was the first calendar year with a global average
temperature “clearly exceeding” 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.
Writes the report’s authors:
“For the first generation of the 21st century—Generation Alpha—it is an
inheritance of profound loss. For their predecessors, climate change has been
an unfolding planetary emergency. But Generation Alpha—which will comprise an
estimated two billion people by 2025, making it the largest generation in
history—is enduring a climatologically changed, warmer planet.”
The year 2024, in fact, was the
warmest year on record, with the average global temperature at 1.60°C above the
pre-industrial era (1850-1900) average. Kiran Pandey, programme director,
environmental resources at CSE, said: “2024 will be remembered as the year that
divided the pre- and post-climate change eras.”
She adds, “Given the fact that
atmospheric moisture levels rise by 7 percent for every one-degree rise in
global average temperatures, this is a perfect brew for planetary disruptions
in terms of extreme weather events.”
CSE’s assessment indicates that
India saw more frequent and intense extreme weather events in 2024, compared to
the previous two years. In the first nine months of 2024, India witnessed
extreme weather events on 255 of the 274 days as against 235 days for the same
period in 2023 and 241 days in 2022. The events drastically impacted
agriculture, with 3.2 million hectares of cropland affected in 2024—74 percent
more than in 2022.
