Govt expert calls for urgent climate planning and green energy transition in wake of worsening Indian weather

Gone are the days when deadly natural disasters felt like once-in-a-lifetime events. In just the recent past, thousands died in the recent Pakistan flooding, tens of thousands succumbed in last week's Turkey-Syria earthquake; and before the Earth had a chance to recover, we've already begun to receive news of Cyclone Gabrielle wringing New Zealand to its knees.

Amid such precarious scenarios, it is natural to be anxious about being on mother nature's crosshairs. Incidentally, India experiences a plethora of unique weather conditions, which also makes it prone to an equally exhaustive armada of weapons already at nature's disposal.

There might not be too much respite for your climate anxieties, however, as conditions are only likely to worsen in India.

M. Ravichandran, one of the top scientists from the Ministry of Earth Sciences, notes: "The extremes are increasing — hot is becoming hotter and cold is becoming colder."

Making it clear that the Earth's incessant warming is only going to create more intense disasters, he also reinforces the need to start preparing yesterday if we want any hope in minimising damage from them.

"The country must plan to deal with such events and invest in climate change mitigation and adaptation measures," he adds.

Worsening heatwaves, catastrophic flooding on the horizon

Being the second-most populous country is a blatant double-edged sword because while it means we have absolutely no shortage of talent, there is a tremendous amount of effort that needs to go into ensuring food security and good health for all its citizens.

Additionally, India remains an agrarian country for the most part. This makes us highly dependent on our crops which are, unfortunately, extremely reliant on local weather.

Just last year, we experienced record temperatures teaming up with deadly and prolonged heat waves to do a number on various crops throughout the year, including wheat. This distressed farmers' livelihoods inside the country while severely hurting exports, particularly at a time when the Russia-Ukraine war had already created catastrophic worldwide food shortages.

Ravichandran also explained that even though average rainfall might end up seeming normal on paper, it could very well be an apparition due to widening real-life regional differences in precipitation. If current trends were to continue, India will have to endure despairing heatwaves and droughts in one region, while tremendous rainfall could bring about menacing floods in another, striking a weird and eerie sense of balance to the mix.

Furthermore, the world inches ever closer to the El Niño weather pattern — a large-scale weather phenomenon which could cause further worldwide warming — that is usually associated with drier conditions in Asia and Australia.

Alternative energy sources the need of the hour

It is no secret that the world needs to move away from fossil fuels and towards greener energy sources. In that regard, our government has been examining sources such as offshore wind power and tidal energy, Ravichandran explains.

This is especially necessary due to the rapid electrification that India is going through. Additionally, summer drives up the need for electrical appliances (such as air conditioners), due to which power plants have already been notified to regrettably look into importing coals to prepare for a surge in demand once again. It does not help that a warming planet is also drying up hydropower sources within the country.

The only way to combat such surging energy demands is to remain proactive about research into alternative energy sources so that potential investors remain informed. In that regard, how the green energy scene within the country develops in the next few years could very well become crucial to determine the state of livability in our country.

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