Asianet News
India Scores Near Bottom In Global Assessment Linking Public Health With Climate Action Plans
India has ranked among the lowest-performing countries in a new global assessment examining how national climate plans address public health, despite facing substantial health risks from climate change and air pollution.
The findings come from the Healthy NDC Scorecard published by the Global Climate and Health Alliance, which evaluated 132 countries on how effectively health considerations are integrated into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. These climate plans outline each country's commitments on emissions reductions and adaptation measures.
India received just two points out of a possible 32, placing it joint-bottom among the countries assessed alongside Japan and New Zealand. The report argues that several major economies continue to treat climate and health as separate policy issues, leaving significant gaps in efforts to protect populations from climate-related harms.
The assessment arrives at a time when health is becoming an increasingly important topic within international climate discussions. It also carries particular significance for India, which ranked ninth in the Climate Risk Index 2026 covering the period from 1995 to 2024, underlining the country's exposure to extreme weather and climate-related impacts.
According to the report, India's latest climate plan fails to adequately address health outcomes linked to climate change and overlooks the public health benefits that could emerge from stronger emissions reduction policies.
Researchers highlighted air pollution as one of the most important omissions. The report notes that India records an estimated 186.2 deaths per 100,000 people linked to air pollution, yet references to air-quality considerations remain absent from the country's latest climate commitments.
The scorecard also found that India is among a group of countries whose emissions-reduction commitments are not aligned with pathways required under the Paris Agreement, increasing concerns about future health risks associated with rising temperatures.
The assessment evaluated countries across eight categories: health impacts, air pollution, health-sector action, health co-benefits, just transition measures, integrated governance, economics and finance, and monitoring and evaluation.
India received zero points in six of those categories and earned only one point each for health-sector action and integrated governance. The report argues that this reflects limited integration between climate and public health planning.
Experts cited in the report said the gap is particularly significant because climate policy and air-quality improvements often deliver overlapping benefits.
Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment, said it was difficult to explain why air pollution and health benefits were omitted despite the major health burden linked to poor air quality. She noted that climate change, energy policy and air pollution cannot be addressed effectively in isolation.
The report also points to black carbon and other short-lived climate pollutants, which contribute both to rising temperatures and harmful health outcomes. Only five countries assessed - Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay have incorporated black-carbon reduction targets into their climate plans.
Colombia achieved the highest overall score with 29 out of 32 points, followed by Nigeria with 25 and Cambodia with 24. Paraguay and Timor-Leste completed the top five rankings. Notably, 19 of the 20 highest-scoring countries were low- and middle-income economies.
Among major emitters, performance was mixed. South Korea scored four points, Russia six, Brazil seven, while Australia, China and the United Kingdom each received nine. The European Union scored 12, South Africa 13, Türkiye 14, Canada 16 and the United Arab Emirates 19.
The report concludes that stronger integration of health considerations into climate planning could generate multiple benefits simultaneously. Researchers argue that reducing pollutants such as black carbon, methane, hydrofluorocarbons and tropospheric ozone would help slow global warming, improve public health and reduce long-term economic costs.
Times Of India - New Delhi
No trouble from stubble this time? Just eightfarm fires in Haryana so far
Haryana recorded just eight incidents of stubble burning between Sept 15 and Oct 15 this year, an almost 99% plunge from 702 during the same period in 2020.
But there’s a catch.
The paddy harvesting season runs from Sept 15 to Nov 30. Damp straw is harder
to burn, but incidents could rise once conditions turn dry. The latest tally was also
68% lower than the 25 fires recorded during the corresponding period last year.
Several traditional hotspots recorded no fires. Kaithal registered zero against 115
in 2020, Karnal none against 214, and Kurukshetra none against 151. Jind, which
reported 20 incidents in 2020 and nine last year, also recorded none. Gurgaon had
no detected fires.
The eight incidents were reported in Palwal (2), Sonipat (2), Faridabad (1), Hansi
(1), Panchkula (1) and Sirsa (1).
Anumita Roychowdhury of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
attributed the decline to govt-backed methods of managing crop residue, along
with better monitoring and compliance.
“Both in-situ and ex-situ strategies supported by govt are now beginning to take
root. The scope of implementation has expanded, bringing a lot more farmers
within their ambit. More importantly, compliance and monitoring have also
improved over the last couple of years,” she said.
Roychowdhury said the trend showed that stubble burning could be curbed
through sustained implementation. “If we have been able to achieve such a
drastic reduction, this shows that the problem is solvable. We can actually
eliminate it if implementation remains very stringent and reaches all farmers
across the region,” she said. “We really need to ramp up further so that we are
able to eliminate the problem.”
However, fewer farm fires alone will not guarantee cleaner winter air. “With the
share of stubble burning going down, the contribution of other regular,
continuous emission sources is going to show up even more. Vehicles, industry
and road dust are among them. We cannot hide behind the smoke of crop fires
anymore,” Roychowdhury said, calling for stricter action against these sources.
She also flagged El Niño as a concern. “Scientists are cautioning that El Niño is
likely to aggravate the trapping of pollution. This is a double jeopardy for us,” she
said, adding that its impact was yet to be understood.
Across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and
Madhya Pradesh, satellites detected 793 residue-burning incidents between Sept
15 and Oct 15. Madhya Pradesh accounted for 350, Punjab 185, Uttar Pradesh 134,
Rajasthan 99, Uttarakhand 16, Haryana eight and Delhi one.
On Oct 15, 15 fires were detected across the region — seven each in Rajasthan and
Madhya Pradesh, and one in Punjab. None was detected that day in Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh, Delhi or Uttarakhand.
Dairy News
CSE Organises Workshop on Sustainable Dairy Farming in India
The Centre for Science and Environment’s programme is intended for dairy-sector stakeholders and other interested
participants. It will assess the current use of preventive and sustainable practices, consider obstacles to wider adoption and
provide a setting for participants to exchange experience across regions.
A central theme is the management of disease risks before they affect herds. The workshop will cover vaccination, veterinary
oversight, routine health checks and farm hygiene. Measures such as controlling animal movement, separating sick animals
when required and maintaining sanitation can help limit the introduction and spread of infections.
The programme will also examine methods for raising output while managing production costs. Better feed and fodder
management can support animal condition, milk yields and reproductive performance. Greater access to suitable, goodquality feed may also enable farmers to use local resources more effectively.
Breed selection will be considered alongside these measures. Breeding choices can take account of local climate, available
feed, farm-management capacity and the objectives of individual producers. The programme’s stated approach includes
animal health and resilience, as well as milk production, with attention to the circumstances of small-scale farmers.
Implementation requires more than technical recommendations. The source identifies practical training, veterinary services,
appropriate inputs and knowledge-sharing as necessary for putting the approaches into practice. Conditions differ according
to farm size, climate, breeds, feed supplies and access to services, so methods will need to be adapted to local circumstances.
The initiative is designed to promote cooperation among farmers, veterinary professionals, researchers, policymakers and dairy organisations. Interested individuals can obtain further information from Neeraj Kumar of CSE’s Sustainable Food Systems programme at neeraj_k@cseindia.org.