It was 38 degrees in Delhi this morning. I checked the weather before stepping out and just stood at the door for a second. May and June have always been hot here, but this kind of heat feels different now. It sits differently. And maybe that is why today, on World Environment Day, I actually stopped to think instead of just scrolling past another post about climate change.
World Environment Day is observed every year on June 5. This year the theme is Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future and Azerbaijan is hosting the global event in Baku. The United Nations Environment Programme leads it every year and this year they brought in Brazilian musician Alok as Global Goodwill Ambassador, using his song Deep Down to spread the message about climate action. It is a big platform. But the question that stayed with me was not about the event. It was about India. What are we actually doing.
Turns out, quite a lot.
At COP21 in Paris, India had pledged to get 40 percent of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. That goal was met in November 2021, nine years early. I did not know this until recently and honestly it surprised me. You hear so much about what India needs to do, rarely about what India already did.
The government has been pushing afforestation, electric vehicles, and solar energy hard over the last few years. India is now one of the largest producers of renewable energy in the world. The International Solar Alliance, which India co-founded with France, now has over 120 member countries. These are not small things. At the same time the ground reality is complicated. Air quality in cities like Delhi, Kanpur and Patna is still a serious problem.
Farmers in some states still burn stubble because they have no affordable alternative. Rivers that should be clean are not. So India is genuinely making progress at a national level while still struggling with local environmental problems that affect everyday people directly.
UNEP this year has been clear that the 1.5 degree Celsius warming limit is dangerously close to being crossed. Record temperatures, melting glaciers, more intense floods and storms, these are not future predictions anymore. They are things happening now. That 38 degree morning in Delhi felt like a small reminder of exactly that.
What strikes me is that India is in a unique position. We are a developing country that is also one of the largest emitters simply because of our size. But we are also a country with ancient traditions of living with nature, not against it. The Chipko movement happened here. Bishnoi communities in Rajasthan have protected trees for centuries. The answers are not always imported, some of them are already here.
World Environment Day is one day. But the decisions that matter happen every other day of the year.
