Health emergency: Delhi smog reveals global failure on climate change

From the beginning of COP23, the issue of loss and damage has cast a shadow over proceedings as developing countries argue for pre-2020 actions to be included. At present, a much more visible gloom hangs over Delhi – air pollution.

Visibility has plummeted, a health emergency has been declared, and schools have been shut down. Various regional governments are quarrelling with each other, and with central government agencies. But the solutions seem elusive.

The problem of Delhi’s air pollution has an obvious – but expensive – fix. Up to 90% of the pollution in northern India is caused by farmers burning stubble to clear fields in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana. The Indian government had a plan to deal with the issue, but it fell apart as the states concerned couldn’t agree on a way to distribute the Rs 30 billion ($460 million) in costs.

The government is already spending a huge amount to deal with the costs of climate change adaptation. According to a study carried out by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, India spent $91.8 billion in the 2013-14 financial year. These costs are projected to increase by $360 billion by 2030.

Direct damage

In 2016, NGO Germanwatch estimated that India suffered direct infrastructural damage of about $21 billion due to extreme weather events, equivalent to almost 1% of India’s total GDP – and about the same it spends on the entire health budget.