India: the climate crisis and its geopolitical issues

Résumé 0

As the whole of South Asia, India is facing the acute consequences of climate change. This major challenge impacts the three main scales of Indian geopolitics. In the country, it underlines the biased federalism practised by the Modi government against States governed by opposition parties. In the region, bilateral co-operations prevail, except with Pakistan which rejects them. Besides the support offered to neighbours for disasters management, the sensitive issue of transboundary water sharing gains increased relevance. Last but not least, climate change is now one of the key topics of the Indian foreign policy discourse, as India’s G20 presidency has testified in 2023. On the one hand, India calls the North to finance the Global South impacted by climate change. On the other hand, the government underlines what is presented as India’s civilisational legacy as a model for the world, whatever be the country mixed performance in the field of sustainable development.