“Accelerated climate change will very probably threaten India’s economic growth,” Kropp says. “Water availability and management and food security are the most evident issues.” Approximately half of Karnataka’s population depends on rainfed agriculture. “So it is crucial to consider the monsoon system which is estimated to be a potential tipping element in the Earth system due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas.” Reducing CO2 emissions implies significant changes in the global energy system. In the same time, India is importing more than 70 percent of oil requirements, “This indicates the interlinkages of the socio-economic and the climate challenge”, Kropp points out. “Germany and India can be first movers to show how these can be reconciled.
Karnataka, which was hosting the conference, is one of India’s most important states with a population of a size similar to France. The Institute for Social and Economic Change participates in the development of climate change mitigation planning on the federal level of India. Jürgen Kropp is leader of PIK’s North-South Project which contributes to, for instance, climate impact adaptation research in Indian Cities like Hyderabad, Kolkata, or Cochin.
