Break free from GDP fixation

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, at the Beyond Growth conference, urged global governments and planners to shift focus from chasing gross domestic product (GDP) to ecological economics. The failure to meet climate action commitments under the UN Paris Agreement (2015) raises concerns about an impending ecosystem catastrophe. According to Robert Costanza (Nature, 2023), excessive ‘GDP addiction’ has breached six of the nine tipping points identified for a sustainable planet: climate change (global warming by CO2 concentration), biodiversity loss, fresh water, altered land use, biogeochemical flows, ozone depletion, biosphere integrity, ocean acidification, and atmospheric aerosol loading. Calls are growing for adopting metrics like the Genuine Progress Indicator, the OECD Better Life Index, and the Annual Surveys of Life Satisfaction.

The challenge lies in reconciling the conflicting demands of GDP and sustainability. Against this backdrop, I examine India/Karnataka’s preparedness to address climate action, one of the nine tipping points identified, drawing insights from reputable publications by Cell Press, Nature, and UN documents.

Despite commitments to contain global warming levels to below 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century—a cap set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—performance indicators reveal a bleak scenario. Governments, even after a lead time of 8 years, have not progressed beyond enacting legal mandates and a few cosmetic initiatives; actionable solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGes), mainly CO2 and methane, are not available. Even nations that initiated action managed only to bend the emission curves but failed to prevent overshoots of the set limits.

Ecological damages from biodiversity loss and habitat conversion are irreversible, emphasising the urgency of preventive measures. For example, it is estimated that more than 2.5 trillion trees have been cut down for human use in recent history. Although an estimated two billion acres of land (abandoned, reclaimable farmlands, etc.) are available for restoration across the globe, the deficit is still too huge, emphasising the need for innovative policies and measures to manage risks. The challenge is to safeguard remaining biodiversity and restore ecological balance.

Technologies related to carbon capture at source storage and sequestration (CCS), renewable energy, and energy efficiency methods, if synergistically deployed, could account for 70% of the climate goals set for 2050. To accomplish this task, about 5.6 gigatonnes of CO2 per year need to be removed from the atmosphere, but the technology vacuum, particularly in developing countries, needs addressing.

India, as the leader of the recent G20 Delhi Summit, is committed to addressing climate challenges through ‘climate financing’ and ‘life style for the environment’ under a globally shared vision of “One Earth, One Family, One Future—Vasudaivakutumbakam”. While premier technology institutions have initiated programmes to mitigate the climate crisis, mainly as academic courses and nascent research programmes (website data), effective climate solutions require adequate funding. In alignment with India’s commitment for ‘climate financing’ declared at the New Delhi G20 Summit, premier technological institutions should be sufficiently financed and primed to deliver the expected technological solutions.

Deploying technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G for climate solutions must adhere to the UNESCO guidelines for assessment to avoid adverse impacts on the planet. For example, the 5G magnetic waves are reported to disorient honey bees in reaching their destination. Given the key role of insects as pollinators and, therefore, biodiversity and ecosystem preservation, a policy filter needs to be inserted to strategically limit the deployment of such technologies for climate action and SD.

Initiatives like the UP government’s workshop on SD for legislators and the Karnataka government’s action plans based on expert reports on each of the 17 SD goals are commendable. It should be a matter of great public concern that both initiatives have lapsed, but they offer a platform for crafting effective programmes as a priority. Simultaneously, state and national education policies should integrate climate crisis and SD awareness as part of the values of the new generation at all levels of education and as a mandatory research priority in universities.

Chasing GDP/market economy at the cost of ecological economics has caused overshoots of the tipping points with disastrous consequences. These lessons should nudge the regulatory stakeholders, national and state governments, towards a transformative journey to protect biodiversity, the mother of all resources from which ecosystem services flow and make human existence possible. What we do in the next 25 years will be crucial to handing over a healthy planet to the next generation and beyond.

(The writer is a former registrar of Bangalore University)