"Climate Resilience as a Low-Risk Pathway for India-China Bilateral Engagement"
Climate Resilience
capacity of systems to absorb, adapt to, and recover from climate shocks
Sponge City
urban design concept embedding water-absorption infrastructure to reduce flood risk
India and China share one of the world's most consequential — and most complicated — bilateral relationships. As the two most populous nations and among the largest greenhouse gas emitters, both countries are simultaneously major contributors to and victims of climate change. Their relationship has oscillated between strategic competition and pragmatic cooperation since the 1962 border conflict, with climate and environment emerging as one of the few domains where structured engagement has historically been possible.
From the early 1990s through 2020, multiple summit-level joint statements, Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), and the six Strategic Economic Dialogues created a formal architecture for cooperation on climate-induced disasters, hydrological data sharing, sustainable urban planning, and waste management. Sister city agreements — Delhi-Beijing, Mumbai-Shanghai, and Chennai-Chongqing — were intended to translate these commitments into on-ground action. However, the deterioration of bilateral ties after the 2020 Galwan Valley standoff effectively froze most of this cooperative infrastructure, including shared water-resource agreements that ceased functioning in 2022.
The Paris Agreement (2015) provides the overarching multilateral framework within which both countries operate. India's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commit to 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, 50% energy from non-fossil fuels, and a 45% reduction in GDP emission intensity over 2005 levels. China has its own net-zero commitments. Both nations thus have strong domestic incentives to advance climate adaptation, independent of bilateral politics.
Climate resilience refers to the capacity of systems — urban, agricultural, ecological — to absorb, adapt to, and recover from climate shocks. It is distinct from climate mitigation (reducing emissions) and focuses instead on managing the consequences of warming that is already locked in. For India and China, the most pressing resilience challenges are strikingly similar: extreme precipitation events, urban flooding, heatwaves, glacial melt, and food-security disruptions.
Rapid urbanisation in both countries has replaced permeable natural surfaces with concrete, dramatically reducing the land's capacity to absorb rainfall. Outdated drainage infrastructure, poor solid-waste management, and the absence of adequate green spaces compound the problem. Coastal megacities face compounding risks — extreme precipitation, storm surges, and sea-level rise simultaneously — while inland cities confront heatwaves and flash floods in rapid succession. …
Statement I: At the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), India refrained from signing the 'Declaration on Climate and Health'.
Statement II: The COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health is a binding declaration; and if signed, it becomes mandatory to decarbonize health sector.
Statement III: If India's health sector is decarbonized, the resilience of its health-care system may be compromised.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
In the context of India's preparation for Climate-Smart Agriculture, consider the following statements:
1.The 'Climate-Smart Village' approach in India is a part of a project led by the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), an international research programme.
2.The project of CCAFS is carried out under Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) headquartered in France.
3.The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India is one of the CGIAR's research centres.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
With reference to the 'Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (GACSA)', which of the following statements is/are correct ?
1.GACSA is an outcome of the Climate Summit held in Paris in 2015.
2.Membership of GACSA does not create any binding obligations.
3.India was instrumental in the creation of GACSA.
Select the correct answer using the code given below :
Which of the following best describes the 'sponge city' concept referenced in the context of urban climate resilience?
Consider the following statements regarding India's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement:
1.India has committed to achieving 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
2.India aims to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% over 2005 levels.
3.India has committed to sourcing 50% of its cumulative electric power from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
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