Not a natural disaster; climate crisis driven by support to fossil fuel tycoons: Expert

By Rajiv Shah  

India must confront its accelerating ecological emergency with systemic reforms rather than symbolic gestures, climate and energy expert Soumya Dutta warned during an interactive workshop in Ahmedabad titled “India’s Environmental Crisis: Where Do We Go From Here Living?”. Introduced by Jesuit activist Cedric Prakash as both a scientist and people’s movement organiser, Dutta said India was already facing life-threatening consequences of environmental neglect.

He opened with air pollution, which he described as a silent mass killer. Nearly 11 lakh Indians die prematurely every year because of toxic air, with children and the elderly most affected. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, 62 percent of Indians live in areas exceeding India’s own air-quality norms. Under the World Health Organization benchmark, the picture worsens dramatically—over 90 percent of Indians breathe unsafe air. 

Dutta explained that even the permissible limits are skewed: India’s standard for annual PM2.5 exposure is 60 micrograms per cubic metre, more than double the WHO guideline of 25 micrograms. Cities like Delhi routinely hit extreme levels—he cited AQI 600, representing PM2.5 concentrations 15–20 times the WHO limit and eight to nine times India’s already relaxed standard.

Dutta described how Delhi’s air could have remained far cleaner had governments acted earlier. In the late 1990s, he wrote to Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana and the Transport Minister urging complete conversion of buses to compressed natural gas. Officials dismissed the idea as impossible, but a Supreme Court order eventually forced the change, dramatically improving air quality. “The lesson is clear: when government wants to act, it works,” he said.

Instead, real sources of pollution continue unchecked. Stubble burning contributes only 3–8 percent, while private vehicles—especially diesel SUVs—produce 24–30 percent, yet diesel continues to be subsidised. The most polluting, Dutta argued, are usually the wealthiest, yet they face the least regulation. Garbage burning, unregulated construction dust and industrial waste add to the toxic burden.

He linked air pollution to the wider climate emergency. Fossil fuels—coal, oil and gas—produce nearly 84 percent of India’s energy and are responsible for close to 90 percent of emissions, yet governments continue expanding coal capacity despite the plummeting cost of solar power. He contrasted India’s sluggish transition with China, which installed one-third of the world’s new renewable capacity in just three years. “India is capable of doing the same. What stops us is political reluctance and corporate interests,” he said.

Climate impacts have already arrived in South Asia with unprecedented force. Dutta noted events once thought impossible: Ahmedabad’s cloudbursts dumping two months of rain in a single day, monsoon systems moving deep into Ladakh and Tibet, and flooding in Sri Lanka intensified by rising sea temperatures. The Earth enjoyed 11,000 years of relative climatic stability—conditions that allowed agriculture and civilisation to flourish. 

Today, global temperatures have risen 1.48°C above pre-industrial levels, nearly breaching the 1.5°C ceiling agreed in the Paris Agreement. “Earlier climate shifts happened over thousands of years. This time, we are causing them within decades,” he said. The Harappan decline, Dutta noted, was triggered by a millennia-long drought; modern societies are forcing upheavals at breakneck speed.

Heat waves are emerging as perhaps the most deadly threat. Thousands die every year from heat and humidity, yet deaths are poorly recorded and official action plans remain superficial. With oceans absorbing 93 percent of excess heat, cyclones, landslides and floods are becoming more frequent and more violent. Those least responsible suffer the most: construction labourers, delivery workers, hawkers, and coastal fishing communities who lose both income and homes.

Dutta was sharply critical of popular quick fixes such as mass tree planting. He pointed out that Delhi has nearly 24 percent green cover, yet remains among the world’s most polluted capitals. Simple planting campaigns will not reverse structural damage if fossil fuel use continues unabated. He noted Uttarakhand’s rainfall has risen despite large-scale deforestation, contradicting simplistic assumptions that fewer trees automatically mean less rain.

What India needs, Dutta argued, is economic and political transformation. Fossil fuel corporations are among the biggest donors to political parties, weakening the regulatory resolve needed to phase out coal. Personal consumption choices—avoiding flights or refusing plastic bags—cannot compensate for systemic failures. “You cannot solve a structural crisis with individual virtue,” he said. 

Resources are not the obstacle: Dutta pointed out that the Union government has written off ₹7 lakh crore in taxes and loans to wealthy entities in recent years, enough to finance large-scale climate and pollution mitigation. Projects like the ₹1,00,000 crore bullet train, he said, reflect misplaced priorities.

Finally, he warned that climate risks are shifting geographically. Arabian Sea storms have intensified, bringing cyclones to Gujarat’s coast with increasing regularity, yet the state lacks the evacuation shelters and disaster systems long established on the Bay of Bengal shore. “Cyclones on the western coast are not outliers anymore—they are the new normal,” he said.

The workshop concluded with Dutta’s stark message: climate survival cannot rely on incremental steps or symbolic gestures. “This crisis demands deep, systemic change—grounded in science, equity and justice,” he said. “Without it, millions will continue paying with their health, livelihoods and lives.”