The current architecture of global climate governance increasingly resembles a pair of ‘hop-on, hop-off’ buses. Climate change is a distant abstraction until it arrives as disaster, by which time they are victims, not stakeholders. And if citizens are not demanding climate action, politics need not respond, since risks outweigh benefits. The just transition agenda, ensuring that climate action does not leave workers and vulnerable communities behind, produced strong statements. Mehta is former Chief Secretary, Jammu and Kashmir and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India

Source: The Hindu February 07, 2026 09:02 UTC