Context and Urgency
- India faces escalating climate risks: rising temperatures, erratic monsoons, floods, droughts, and crop failures threaten millions.
- Over 80% of India’s population lives in climate disaster-prone districts (World Bank data).
- These climate physical risks (CPRs) pose systemic threats to economic stability, public health, and national security.
Relevance : GS3(Climate Change)
Nature of Climate Physical Risks (CPRs)
- CPRs include acute shocks (floods, heatwaves) and chronic stresses (shifting monsoons, prolonged droughts).
- Climate projections (long-term) differ from weather forecasts (short-term) and are vital for proactive adaptation.
- Effective management of CPRs requires long-term planning rather than reactive measures.
Global Climate Action: Mitigation vs Adaptation
- Global efforts are split between mitigation (emission reduction) and adaptation (building resilience).
- Adaptation is increasingly necessary worldwide due to intensifying climate impacts, not just in the Global South.
- Despite its importance, funding is disproportionately allocated to mitigation, overlooking adaptation measures like resilient infrastructure.
- Investing $1 in adaptation yields a $4 return by reducing economic losses and disaster recovery costs (UNEP).
Framework for Assessing CPRs
- CPR risk = function of hazard (climate events), exposure (who/what is at risk), and vulnerability (capacity to withstand/recover).
- This framework underscores that climate risk is multifaceted, involving environmental and socio-economic dimensions.
Regulatory and Reporting Developments
- Financial regulators worldwide are moving from voluntary to mandatory climate risk disclosures.
- India’s Reserve Bank is integrating climate risks into its regulatory framework.
- The IFRS ISSB S2 standard sets global expectations for climate risk disclosure, linking CPR assessments to business continuity.
India’s Current Challenges
- India’s climate risk assessments are fragmented across multiple agencies and methodologies, lacking standardization.
- Existing tools and studies (e.g., flood maps, vulnerability atlases) are valuable but not unified or centrally accessible.
- Global climate models often fail to capture India’s hyper-local climate realities, limiting accuracy.
- This fragmentation hinders informed policymaking and business decision-making.
Initiatives and Way Forward
- India has initiated a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) aligned with the Paris Agreement, with an Adaptation Communication submitted in 2023.
- The upcoming NAP report aims for district-level granularity across nine thematic sectors.
- A robust, India-specific CPR assessment tool is urgently needed to unify data and methodologies.
- Such a tool should combine:
- Localized climate modelling,
- Granular risk assessment,
- Centralized climate risk data repository,
- Transparent, science-based iterative processes.
- This will enable:
- Public sector to design resilient policies and infrastructure,
- Private sector to assess value chain risks and meet investor demands.
