Coming from the Global South and particularly from a nation which has substantial fossil fuel reserves which include 60.6 billion tonnes of coal, 5.7 billion barrels of oil and 1.4 trillion cubic feet of gas and where people can freely use it, the biggest fight of my generation is to let go fossil fuel. Yes, India is a country which has to fight to decarbonize its economy. The basic reasons for doing this is because fossil fuel harms people and most importantly our planet. We need to do this to ensure that the global temperature stays below the 1.5?C. This is primarily important because when policies and infrastructure will fail to keep the global temperature below the 1.5?C limit, it will bring catastrophe for the planet and humankind.

India is an agrarian country/economy and it highly depends on the monsoon. This makes India a lot more vulnerable to climate change. Climate change will have and is having direct impact on monsoon and it is likely that the monsoons will be more unpredictable in the coming years. Therefore, it will highly impact the rain-fed agriculture, particularly wheat cultivation in the country and in the South Asia. Chances are that the crop production will be reduced causing food insecurity and lose of livelihoods. 

Apart from this, one of the major threats that we have to face if we do not keep global temperature below 1.5?C is that of sea level rise. A UN report recently mentioned that nearly 40 million Indians are at a risk due to sea level rise by 2050. According to the report, Mumbai and Kolkata will be highly affected by coastal flooding in the future. IPPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has predicted a global sea level rise of 1m by the end of 2100. India having a long coastline of around 7517 km is subject to various problems like discharge of waste effluents, municipal sewage and exploitation of coastal resources.

Also, crossing the threshold of 1.5 ? C will have adverse effect on the economic prosperity of a country. Studies show that climate change, climate variability and sea level rise will directly affect and in other words will exacerbate poverty in the developing nations including India. It is estimated that climate change will cause 45 million Indians to suffer from poverty. According to World Bank, this will adversely affect India?s economic prosperity in the next 15 years. Climate change will also increase health issues causing a significant rise in malaria by 5% if the global warming continues to 2-3 ?C.

Clearly, if we do not stay below 1.5 ? C, catastrophe will follow us. Staying below 1.5 ? C is a not only a radical stance rather it is an ethical stance as well. It is both a symbolic and literal fight that the world is taking up together to combat climate change.