Editorial: Right stand

GHG reduction for cooling in the health sector could hinder India’s ability to meet the demands for medical services

India has taken the right call by refraining from signing a non-binding declaration on Climate and Health at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP28) in Dubai. The key sticking point was the commitment by the signatories to reduce greenhouse gases for cooling applications within healthcare infrastructure, a measure that India finds difficult to comply with. It is not practical for the country to curb greenhouse gases for cooling in the health sector because vaccines and drugs require cold storage rooms and are linked to making our healthcare systems resilient. The greenhouse gas reduction for cooling in the health sector could hinder India’s ability to meet the growing demands for medical services, particularly in remote and underserved areas. Since India is a huge exporter of generic medicines, moving towards decarbonising the sector can impact not only the 1.4 billion Indians but also several people across the world. Health tech caters mostly to those who can afford it, while the poor wait for long hours to access it. Along with India, the United States too refused to sign the declaration which is aimed at addressing the critical intersection between climate change and global health and emphasised the need for swift and substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The objective is to promote sustainable practices within the health sector to contribute to broader climate goals. Acknowledging the carbon footprint of health systems, the declaration encourages steps to curb emissions and reduce waste in the health sector. This includes assessing greenhouse gas emissions of health systems, developing action plans, establishing nationally determined decarbonisation targets and implementing procurement standards for national health systems, including supply chains.

However, it must be pointed out that India has laid much emphasis on resilient health in its G20 declaration. The key health priorities of India’s G20 presidency were building a resilient healthcare system, creating a platform for improving access to medical countermeasures and establishing a network for sharing digital goods between countries. Typically, negotiations at the climate summit highlight how difficult it is to achieve a balance between national priorities and climate requirements, especially when one is not the primary culprit but a disproportionate victim of this global crisis. India has been positioning itself as the voice of the Global South, articulating the concerns of the developing world. During his opening speech at the COP28 meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a sharp rebuke to wealthy nations, saying a small section of mankind has exploited nature indiscriminately but the whole of humanity is paying its price. At COP26 in Glasgow, India was instrumental in changing the focus of the declaration from ‘phase-out’ to ‘phase-down’ our dependence on coal. It argued that a complete stop to coal could significantly hinder the country’s development — a stance many developing nations echoed. India’s domestic goals are in line with its self-imposed 2070 deadline for reaching net-zero emissions.

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