India must protect its coasts as climate finance dwindles: Eco Survey 2025

A breakwater built to protect Akkaraipettai in Nagapattinam, India. Bloomberg

India’s vulnerable coasts should become pivotal to the country’s resilience strategy, in the absence of adequate financial support from richer economies, government advisers told the administration.

The South Asian nation’s densely populated coasts, stretching for 7,600 kilometers (4,700 miles) and dotted with islands, make adaptation urgent in the face of threats like high tide flooding, storms and a rise in sea levels, according to the Economic Survey released on Friday, which presents recommendations for the government ahead of the annual budget.

India is the seventh most climate-vulnerable country, and the failure of developed nations to commit sufficient finance for mitigation means it will have to deal with a growing exposure to climate-change-driven extremes, the report stated.

India’s pledges under the Paris Agreement have largely focused on cutting emissions by adding renewables and offsetting some of the growing energy demand that is still met through fossil fuels. The country also plans to reduce its emission intensity, the amount of greenhouse gases produced per unit of GDP, by 45% by the end of the decade compared to 2005 levels.

India’s economic advisers put a sharper focus on adaptation, adding that “while greenhouse gas emissions are a global bad and the benefits of mitigation are diffused,” vulnerable nations “have to bear a disproportionate burden of climate change.”

As part of this effort, the government proposed a large scale deployment of nature-based solutions such as mangrove and coral reef restoration, along with an assessment of the cumulative vulnerability of the country’s coasts, to facilitate the design of adaptive measures.