| Abstract [eng] |
Climate change is a global threat that transcends national borders, thus the contribution of each country has a significant impact. India is one of the key players in the fight against climate change. The country’s contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions is one of the most compelling. India’s and China’s CO2 emissions are proposed to overcome the total amount of those which are emitted by all countries. In addition, India is the second biggest coal producer and the third biggest CO2 emitter globally. Despite investments in renewable and nuclear energy, the primary energy resource remains fossil fuels (44% coal, 25% oil, 6% gas). While burning, they extract immense amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and cause a greenhouse effect. This makes India’s international commitments and responsibility to move towards sustainable development undeniably relevant. However, it does not necessarily mean that India is inclined to accept the demands that were set at UN Climate Change Conference COP26. During the last minutes of the conference, the country initiated and together with China changed the final agreement on mitigating climate change. It was voted to change the ‘phase out’ to ‘phase down’ fossil fuels. Since the agreement does not specify by when and to what extent fossil fuels must be abandoned, India’s Prime Minister N. Modi has stated that the country will achieve this goal by 2070. Such a commitment will lead to irreversible climate effects and will cause a rise in the global average temperature, which is predicted to increase by 3 °C by 2100 compared to pre-industrial levels. This thesis answers the question of why India, an important player in the international arena which has enormous renewable energy potential and the fastest-growing economy, fails to implement a just transition to a sustainable development plan that would significantly contribute to the global goals of mitigating climate change and reducing socioeconomic inequality. In order to analyse the successes and failures of this transition, the method of sustainable development indicators is applied. It distinguishes the three main pillars of sustainable development: economy, environment and social policy. The findings are used for the analysis of India's sustainable development plans. Moreover, the implications of the country’s policies at both national and international levels are presented through the use of scholarly scenarios for India's future development. The obtained conclusions show that one of major India’s failures in the transition to climate neutral economy is its inability to balance three pillars of the economy, social politics and the environment. In India’s case, it is based on economic growth, but not on the responsible and limited use of natural resources. It also shows that the pillar of social politics was ignored and the lack of political ambition to solve this issue is still here. Moreover, India tries to balance its position between the global West and South. Thus, it is forced to recreate its way of just transition that would combine international commitments and its will to sustain a growing economy with existing pollution levels. This statement is supported by the idea, that a similar or not much higher extent of CO2 emissions is aimed (CO2 emissions will undoubtedly rise because of the aim to reduce human development deficit). Paradoxically, India is building its image as a responsible country concerned with the mitigation of climate change effects, but at the same time, it is increasing imports of cheap fossil fuels, opening its domestic coal industry to the private market and closing unprofitable thermal power plants, leaving millions of Indians without incomes to live in vulnerable areas. To conclude, just transition towards sustainable development in India is understood as impractical. |
