Supreme Court judges flag concerns over climate change; bat for Climate Commission

Four Supreme Court judges, three of whom who are in line to be future Chief Justices of India, shed light on the dangers of climate change and suggested steps to combat the same. .Justices Surya Kant, PS Narasimha, Sanjay Karol and KV Viswanathan spoke about the imminent need to address the pressing issues of climate change.They were speaking at the launch of the book Climate Change: The Policy, Law and Practice, authored by advocate Jatinder Cheema on Saturday,.Justice Viswanathan said that for a developing country like India, laws just focussing on reduction of carbon emissions may not suffice. "It has been recorded that 2011 to 2024 was the warmest. This is a problem here and now and is a serious existential threat. Scientific reports also state that now it is the warmest since the last 1 lakh years....countries regulate their law just to focus on carbon emissions but it is felt that for a developing country like India that may not be the best model. The Supreme Court in the Ranjeet Singh judgment held that citizens have a right to save themselves from the adverse effect of climate change," he said. He added that there was a need for a climate commission in our country which would be a permanent body like NITI Aayog so that problems are solved from all angles..Justice Kant pointed out that environmental violations by the developed countries often go unnoticed."Some developed countries often export their plastic waste to developing countries. Developing countries including India have taken steps to prevent ecological damage and taken measures to reduce carbon emissions etc," said Justice Kant.He expressed hope that the Indian legislature comes forward and takes legislative measures to combat climate change..Meanwhile, Justice Karol said that overuse of fertilisers and excessive groundwater irrigation have exacerbated climate change and affected agriculture."Successive governments have spent a lot to clean the Ganges, and we know what is the condition now," he added..Justice Narasimha stated that unless and until people change internally, there would be no use of law and people would be only filing petitions at the National Green Tribunal."We are seeing extreme temperatures, we are seeing contamination of drinking water, rising sea levels among everything else. The consequences are not just for human life, but plant and animal life as well," he added..Cheema stated that the book goes beyond just environmental laws."Instead, it aims to compile all the legal frameworks related to climate change, adaptation, resilience and mitigation, both at national and international levels, into a single volume. It is intended to be a valuable resource for anyone interested in driving positive change on this issue, including policymakers, activists, legal scholars, and practitioners," he said..The foreword to the book has been written by Justice Dalveer Bhandari, Judge of the International Court of Justice at The Hague..[Read live report here]