Odisha formulates a ‘Climate Budget’, a first by an Indian state

Odisha, a coastal state in eastern India, is a disaster-prone region and witnesses climate change induced events such as tropical cyclones, floods and water stresses almost every year. The population's dependence on coastal livelihoods makes them more vulnerable to such weather extremity.

To address the issue of climate change, Odisha formulated its State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) in 2010, which was revised for the period of 2018-23 and is under implementation. The report was again revised for 2021-30 as per the commitments made in the SDG-NDC Report submitted by Government of India to UNFCCC to achieve the 2030 targets. However, public expenditure has not received significant focus in the Indian context and spending on climate change issues still remains a challenge. To overcome this, the State of Odisha undertook a rigorous cross sectoral analysis to come up with a Climate Budget for 2020-21.

The aim of this is to keep track of government spending on climate change and to support mitigation and adaption actions. Odisha became the first state in India to make such a public disclosure and acknowledge the need to identify sectoral scheme level/budgetary needs and mainstream climate change into the state’s budget.

Find out more by downloading Odisha's case study, which was developed as part of the of the Under2 Coalition's India States Climate Leadership Project.