A comprehensive new report published in September 2026 reveals that climate change has remained a marginal concern in the Indian Parliament despite the country's growing vulnerability to extreme weather events. The study, titled India's Parliamentary Discourse on Environment since the Paris Agreement, analyzed legislative engagement over the first ten years following the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Authored by Hajira Puthige and published by the Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA), the report examined a dataset of 8,702 parliamentary questions raised in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha between December 2015 and December 2025.
The findings highlight a significant gap between the urgency of the climate crisis and the political attention it receives. According to the research, climate-related inquiries accounted for only 3.3 percent of all parliamentary questions asked over the decade. The study notes that legislative interest is heavily concentrated on Clean Energy and Decarbonisation, which made up 33.81 percent of the environmental questions. This focus aligns with what the report describes as prestige-heavy international targets.
The report also sheds light on the partisan nature of these discussions. It found that ruling party members predominantly raise status-oriented questions designed to highlight and celebrate government programs. In contrast, opposition members tend to focus on implementation gaps, accountability, and the actual impact of climate policies on the ground.
Furthermore, the study is highly critical of the government's responses to these parliamentary inquiries, accusing the administration of favoring public relations over substantive action. According to the study, the government consistently prioritises technological optics, such as the Flood Watch India App and the Van Agni portal, as evidence of action. Yet, it often lacks operational benchmarking; for instance, the Ministry has admitted to having no nationally benchmarked firefighting systems despite tracking fires with satellite precision.
When it comes to the health impacts of environmental degradation, the government has repeatedly pushed back against direct accountability. In response to questions linking air pollution to mortality, official replies frequently state that there is no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death exclusively due to air pollution. The study notes that the Executive consistently maintains that there is no conclusive data available to establish a direct correlation of death or disease exclusively due to air pollution, citing overlapping factors like diet and lifestyle, thereby limiting the attribution of health outcomes exclusively to air pollution.
The study also reveals significant data gaps acknowledged by the state, noting that there is no established study for India providing a quantified contribution of climate change triggering displacement of people.
Despite calls from lawmakers for stronger legislative frameworks, the study finds that the Executive has consistently rejected proposals for a dedicated Climate Change Act or the formation of a high-power committee on climate. Instead, the government has maintained that the existing Environmental Protection Act is sufficient to handle the crisis.
As India continues to face escalating climate risks, the report concludes that current parliamentary discussions do not yet reflect the level of ambition and scrutiny that the climate crisis demands. The transition from reactive disaster responses to strategic, well-funded climate policies remains a significant challenge for the world's largest democracy.
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