Maharashatra State elections 2024: What the manifestos say about climate change?
Climate change is all around us. But do the ones we are about to elect know, care and plan to act on it?
It’s State election time in Maharashtra. Promises are being made. And you may argue they will not be kept. But they at least show us what’s on the mind of those we may elect. And I wonder where climate change comes in their priorities. So I went through the election manifestos of the 2 major factions - Mahayuti (led by BJP) and Mahavikas Agadi or MVA (Shivsena - UBT, Congress, NCP - Sharad Pawar).
What this article is about: It’s a summary of what the election manifestos of the 2 key factions say on climate change related themes - in their own words. I have simply taken snapshots of text from the manifesto docs, collected all points related to a theme in 1 place and compared the 2 manifestos.
What this article is not: It’s NOT A commentary. It’s not an analysis of the planned initiatives and whether they are good/ bad.
So here goes!
1. Renewable energy
Why does it matter?
Maharashtra has about 10% of the country's installed electricity generation capacity.
Currently share of renewables is ~20%~ . Current target is to go to 40% renewable energy by 2030
Electricity is a massive emission source and our electricity consumption will likely only increase and so its critical we shift away from coal powered electricity to renewables as rapidly as possible.
2. Air quality
Why does it matter?
Given how bad the air currently is, I guess this is a topic that doesn’t need further elaboration.
3. Public transport
Why does it matter?
A solid public transport infrastructure is the only way we can reduce our dependence on cars. This is important for carbon emissions at an overall level but also for the air quality in our cities.
Excessive use fossil fuel powered cars is one of the biggest contributors to poor air quality as well as the heat island effect we see in cities.
4. Biodiversity
Why does it matter?
Biodiversity loss happening at an alarming rate globally. The western ghats are one of the most biodiverse places on the earth. It is important that we have in place the right guidelines to protect them as well as other parts of the state.
5. Waste
Why does it matter?
Waste is a big contributor to emissions. Due to excessive waste generation, inadequate recycling and poor treatment, it leads to massive emissions of both CO2 and Methane.
6. Overall ‘climate change’ lens
The Mahayuti manifesto doesn’t call out ‘climate change’ as an issue. In fact the words ‘climate change’ don’t feature in the manifesto even once.
The MVA manifesto calls out climate change as an issue (the words feature in it 8 times) and has ‘Biodiversity-rich’ as one of the 5 pillars of an aspirational Maharashtra.
As promised, have laid out what the manifestos say as they say it. Hopefully this gives the readers the base information to make their own judgements.