‘Prefer Our Own Assessment To Make Policies’
NEW DELHI: Different global organisations, including environmental think tanks, may be ranking India on different green parameters, but the country prefers its own assessment for policy formulation instead of banking on “external” findings on pollution, sustainability and disaster resilience. Environment ministry made the country’s stand over such global ranking clear through written responses to two different questions in RS on Thursday.Responding to a question on the recent Global Climate Risk Index that ranked India ninth among countries most affected by extreme weather events, the ministry said, “Govt, however, does not recognise any external ranking as a basis for domestic policy formulation.”Global Climate Risk Index is an annual report published by Germanwatch. The latest report, released last month, analysed six indicators including fatalities and economic loss due to extreme weather events during 1995-2024, showing that India reported a loss of more than 80,000 lives and nearly $170 billion in 430 extreme weather events in past three decades.”A wide range of estimates exist regarding the economic losses and damages caused by climate impacts to the Indian economy. However, isolating climate component of total losses due to extreme weather events continues to remain a challenge,” the ministry said.Similarly, in response to a question on India’s global position in IQAir World Air Quality Ranking, WHO Global Air Quality Database & others, the ministry dismissed such a ranking saying the “worldwide ranking of cities for pollution levels is not being conducted by official authority”. Noting that the WHO air quality guidelines serve as “only a guidance document”, the ministry said the countries prepare their air quality standards based on geography, environmental factors, background levels, socio-economic status and national circumstance. It said the ministry conducts its own ‘Swachh Vayu Survekshan’ annually and felicitates better performing cities on national clean air day (Sept 7).
