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Climate consequences: If India sneezes

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Abstract

The sobering 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s special report shows that the world has a limited window to reduce dire climate change induced consequences by restricting temperature rise to 1.5°C. India, one of the largest economies in the world and the third largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter, is critical in this fight against climate change. India is working to address multiple goals of accelerating economic growth, ensuring energy security, providing reliable energy access, and addressing climate change while bringing millions of people out of poverty. Despite these challenges, India has an ambitious and achievable plan to address climate change. This article discusses India’s domestic climate actions, progress on climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, and the potential to transition to a low carbon economy.

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Notes

  1. When Paris sneezes, Europe catches a cold” is a metaphor coined by Prince Klemens von Metternich in the wake of the French Revolution of 1848, Philip Mansel, Paris, Court City of the Nineteenth Century, 11 THE COURT HISTORIAN, 15-28 (2014), https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1179/cou.2006.11.1.002;

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    Other factors include the rate of urbanization, extent of economic growth, growth in the manufacturing, industrial sectors, rate of rise incomes etc

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Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Brendan Guy and Han Chen from NRDC. This report draws upon some of their previous studies. All opinions and errors are those of the authors alone.

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  1. Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, USA

    Anjali Jaiswal, Madhura Joshi & Sameer Kwatra

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  1. Anjali Jaiswal
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Correspondence to Anjali Jaiswal.

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NRDC is an international environmental non-profit organization working to safeguard the earth - its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other professionals have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC’s India Program on Climate Change and Clean Energy, launched in 2009, works with partners in India to advance a low-carbon, sustainable economy. For more information, visit www.nrdc.org and https://www.nrdc.org/india.

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Jaiswal, A., Joshi, M. & Kwatra, S. Climate consequences: If India sneezes. Jindal Global Law Review 10, 19–34 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41020-019-00089-y

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