Climate change impact on jobs and livelihoods in India needs careful study

A data-backed analysis can help create a roadmap on how to create new jobs as old ones run the risk of losing out to climate change.

Balancing developmental aspirations with climate goals is one of the biggest challenges faced by developing countries worldwide. The difficulty is exacerbated for India which must continuously create jobs and livelihood-earning opportunities for the ever-growing population in the working age group of 15-59 years. Compounding the problem for a geographically diverse country like India is that each of its states must contend with that region’s own unique challenges in the climate domain, be they related to climate adaptation or climate mitigation.
The number of people aged 15-59 years is forecast to increase more than 34 percent from 735 million in 2011 to 988.5 million in 2036. In such a scenario, it would be helpful if authorities could come up with a time-bound study on how the climate issue is likely to impact the creation of direct and indirect jobs in different broad sectors and sub-sectors of the economy and industry.

Comprehensive Roadmap

Carrying out a data-backed study could help India determine how it could leverage its heightened focus on the climate and development issues to come up with a comprehensive roadmap on how to create more and better new jobs than the ones that are likely to be lost or put at high risk owing to climate change. Industry experts, civil society leaders, and reputed think tanks could be roped in for the purpose of such a study to give it a more inclusive shape and form.

Embarking on such an initiative could also help the country work out the roles and responsibilities of different key stakeholders regarding the protection of interests of the section of the workforce that is most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. A step of this nature, moreover, could help identify whether there is any need for bringing in new rules and regulations pertaining to the workforce who may potentially lose their livelihoods owing to the climate change issue. The “phasing down” of the use of coal, for instance, could have a potentially large impact on jobs and livelihoods.

Taking The Lead

At another level, an exhaustive analysis of the correlation between climate change and jobs in India could come in handy for the country during discussions on the climate issue at the G20 Leaders’ Summit to be held in New Delhi in September if a first cut of the report could be readied by then. The study could also prove handy for India while conducting climate-related negotiations at the COP28 meeting to be held in Dubai from November 30-December 12.

It may be relevant to mention here, too, that as part of its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), India has pledged to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” (SDG 8). Having an advanced picture of how climate change could impact the work arena in India could help authorities in their efforts to ensure that the climate issue does not come in the country’s way in realising the targets associated with SDG 8.

Seen from a different perspective, India taking the lead in carrying out a focused study on the climate change impact on job creation within the country could inspire other nations, especially those in the developing category, to undertake similar efforts. This, in turn, could lead to global deliberations on the climate vis-à-vis jobs issue becoming more fact-based, and less reliant on generalizations or the perspectives of a limited set of stakeholders.

Sumali Moitra is a current affairs commentator. Twitter: @sumalimoitra. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.