India’s climate diplomacy must account for domestic inequalities

• India must address internal socioeconomic inequality to achieve a just climate transition, rather than focusing solely on global climate justice.
• Economic liberalization has shifted emissions burdens to more unequal states, worsening carbon footprint disparities.
• Extreme heat and climate-related disasters pose a severe human security threat to the marginalized, including outdoor workers and small-scale farmers.

Carbon Inequality and Economic Shift

• India contributes approximately 4 percent of accumulated global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, maintaining low per capita rates that bolster its call for global climate fairness.
• Within India, inequality is stark: the top 1 percent own 40.1 percent of the wealth, and the wealthiest 10 percent emit 10 times more than the bottom 50 percent.
• Post-1990 economic liberalization has transformed the relationship between inequality and emissions, where higher state-level economic disparity is now correlated with higher carbon emissions.

Human Security and Climate Risk

• Extreme heat creates cascading risks for vulnerable groups, including daily-wage workers, internal migrants, and small farmers, who lack access to protective cooling or safety regulations.
• Recent statistics reflect significant human costs:
  • Over 4,000 deaths from extreme weather in the first nine months of 2025.
  • 3,812 recorded heat-related deaths in the last three years (likely an underestimate).
  • Nearly 80 percent of marginal farmers reporting crop losses due to climate instability.

Future Policy Direction

• India’s climate negotiators now advocate for an "equity-driven, economy-wide just transition," emphasizing a "whole-of-society approach."
• Effective domestic adaptation requires investment in heat-resilient infrastructure, urban planning, safe water access, and robust social protection systems.
• Policy should mirror the demands India makes of industrialized nations, explicitly protecting marginalized groups like women, Dalits, Adivasis, and religious minorities from disproportionate climate impacts.