Relevance: GS-3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.

Key Phrases: CoP 26 in Glasgow, Lifestyle for the Environment, mindful and wasteful consumption, mindful and deliberate utilisation, Pro-Planet People, walk-to-school mandate, Environment-friendly behaviours, consume responsibly, Produce responsibly, Live responsibly.

Why in News?

• In November 2021, at the CoP 26 in Glasgow, the Prime Minister of India, in addition to announcing the PANCHAMRIT, or five climate-related commitments of the country, also articulated the concept of “Lifestyle for the Environment” (LiFE) - advocating for “mindful and deliberate utilisation” by people worldwide, instead of “mindful and wasteful consumption”.

Climate Crisis:

• It has been estimated that the global economy could lose up to 18 per cent of GDP, and India could lose $6 trillion by 2050 if no climate action is taken.
• In India alone, more than 50 per cent of our largely rural workforce will be negatively affected by climate change.
• Food and water security are already threatened across the world due to the climate crisis.
• Clearly, climate change can no longer be an after-thought to the global development agenda.

Addressing Climate Change through Individual behaviour:

• According to the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP), if one billion people out of the global population of close to eight billion adopt eco-friendly behaviours in their daily lives, global carbon emissions could drop by approximately 20 per cent.
• Such eco-friendly behaviours include turning off ACs, heaters and lights when not in use, as this, for instance, can conserve up to 282 kilowatts of electricity per day.
• Avoiding food wastage can reduce an individual’s carbon footprint by 370 kg per year.
• Reducing one flight trip per year can reduce per capita carbon emissions by 700 to 2,800 kg.
• Individual behaviour, therefore, has enormous potential to make a significant dent in the climate conundrum.
• There is an urgent need for individuals to transcend geographical, social and economic boundaries, and come together as a global community to tackle the climate crisis.
• India can lead the global climate debate by nudging the world towards a new model of sustainable and inclusive development through the Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE) movement.

Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE):

• LiFE was launched on June 5, 2022, World Environment Day, by PM, with a vision of harnessing the power of individual and collective action across the world to address the climate crisis.
• The objective of the movement is to nudge individuals and communities to adopt simple and specific climate-friendly behaviours in their daily lifestyles.
• The Mission plans to create and nurture a global network of individuals, namely ‘Pro-Planet People’ (P3), who will have a shared commitment to adopt and promote environmentally friendly lifestyles.
• Through the P3 community, the Mission seeks to create an ecosystem that will reinforce and enable environmentally friendly behaviours to be self-sustainable.
• The Mission envisions replacing the prevalent ‘use-and-dispose’ economy—governed by mindless and destructive consumption—with a circular economy, which would be defined by mindful and deliberate utilization.
• There are already precedents of pro-planet initiatives around the world.
  • For example, Denmark promotes the use of bicycles by limiting parking within the city centre and providing exclusive bike lanes.
  • Japan has its unique “walk-to-school” mandate, which has been in practice since the early 1950s.
• LiFE, however, is planned as a first-of-its-kind global movement, led by India in partnership with other countries, that will provide the world with a unique people-powered platform to relentlessly focus on bringing individual and collective actions to the core of the climate action narrative.

Inda’s LiFE movement compels the world to:

• Consume responsibly:
  • Sustainable living and comfortable living are mistakenly perceived to be competitors.
  • The prevailing perception that climate-friendly behaviour necessarily implies a frugal lifestyle has played a major role in preventing populations worldwide from adopting a sustainable lifestyle.
  • LiFE plans to methodically break down this mental model by nudging the world to consume responsibly, rather than consuming less.
  • Building on the unique insights from India’s recent Jan Andolans such as the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), LiFE will deploy a range of tested behavioural techniques, including nudges, social and behaviour change communication and norm influencing to make mindful consumption a mass movement.
• Produce responsibly:
  • If sustainable choices are not supported from the supply side, any change in our consumption patterns will only be temporary.
  • While policies and regulations can incentivise the sustainability market to a limited extent, a long-term and stable shift in what and how the market supplies will have to be triggered by what the consumers demand.
  • By nudging the consumption patterns of the society at scale, LiFE can also trigger a huge boost for the sustainability market.
  • Several green industries and a large number of jobs are likely to be initiated as a positive externality of LiFE.
• Live responsibly:
  • The Covid pandemic is a wake-up call to all of us that no matter how much technological progress we make as a global society, we all remain at the mercy of the natural world.
  • As a global community of people with a shared natural world, a threat to one is a threat to all.
  • In this context, through its multi-dimensional, multi-cultural and global approach, the LiFE movement can play a pivotal role in not merely reversing the effects of climate change but, at a broader level, mainstream a harmonious and mindful way of living - a staple of Indian culture and tradition, practised by its people over centuries.

Conclusion:

• As the world moves towards its shared commitment to achieving ambitious climate goals, the time is ripe for India to lead the LiFE movement and mainstream it into the climate narrative.
• India will soon complete 75 years of Independence to move into an era of atmanirbharta.
• Further, by December, India will assume the presidency of the G20 — a group that covers 60 per cent of the global population, 80 per cent of the global GDP and 75 per cent of global exports.
• This puts us in a pole position to shape the global development model. LiFE could arguably become the very heart of that model.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. How can India lead the global climate debate by nudging the world towards a new model of sustainable and inclusive development through the Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE) movement?