Climate Change Is Big Business. And That's The Problem.

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer)

Everyone agrees that climate change is real. But not enough people are talking about how the fight against it is becoming one of the most profitable scams of our time.

Today, you'll hear about billions being pledged to fight floods, droughts and rising heat. Reports are launched with dramatic graphics. Conferences are held in luxury hotels. Consultants fly from Nairobi to New York, talking about“resilience” and“green transitions.” But has anything actually changed?

Carbon emissions are still going up. Heatwaves are deadlier. Forests are vanishing. If all this money was doing its job, the world wouldn't be on fire.

So, what's going wrong?

Read Also Kashmir's Trees Are Fighting a Global Plastic War I Was a Victim of Kashmir's School 'Discipline' System. Here's My Story

Behind the scenes, a network of bureaucrats, researchers, and middlemen is cashing in. Climate change has become a business. Projects that claim to protect the planet are often just words on paper. Millions get approved, but when you visit the project sites, there's nothing there.

Take the Green Climate Fund (GCF). It was created to help vulnerable countries adapt to the climate crisis. In theory, a brilliant idea. In practice, not so much. In Senegal, civil society groups called out a GCF project for failing to build even basic infrastructure. In Peru, a project meant for local communities was accused of serving private business interests instead.

It's not just happening abroad. In India, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA) is supposed to plant trees to make up for those cut down in development. But in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, the money went to smartphones, laptops, office furniture. Trees? Hardly any. In some cases, no one even kept track of whether a single sapling was planted.

In Jammu and Kashmir, which faces extreme weather and growing disaster risks, the story is no better. A government audit found that one in four rupees set aside for disaster management went to things like road construction-projects with no connection to climate safety.

Some climate workshops listed in official reports never even happened. Or they were exaggerated beyond recognition. It reminds us of what we saw between 2016 and 2018, when a high-voltage transmission line was laid from Rajouri to Budgam. Thousands of forest and walnut trees were cut down. Clearances were issued left and right by forest and revenue officers. Compensation was tiny. And the loot went on. The State Vigilance Organisation, now the Anti-Corruption Bureau, did nothing about it.

And the corruption isn't just in governments.

In Uganda, climate funds routed through NGOs vanished into fake salaries and receipts. A forensic audit found entire activities that were never done. In the Philippines, the government claimed to have planted over a billion trees. Later, auditors discovered that 88 percent were either dead or never planted.

How does this keep happening?

One reason: the climate industry protects itself. NGOs, experts, and consultants throw around words like“sustainability” and“mitigation pathways,” but when you ask for results, they dodge. Everyone cites each other in glossy reports and peer-reviewed journals. But on the ground, nothing moves. And when you raise questions, they call you anti-science.

The media, which should be asking the hard questions, too often plays along. Press releases become headlines. Investigations are rare. And when they do happen, access is blocked or dismissed.

This isn't just about the environment. It's about how power works. Governments sign climate pledges while clearing new coal mines. Big renewable projects uproot local communities and forests in the name of“clean energy.” And global summits? They've become networking events for elite consultants chasing their next big contract.

Even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world's leading body on climate science, hasn't escaped criticism. Experts have warned that one of its commonly used scenarios, RCP 8.5, paints extreme futures to attract attention, and funding. That leads to panic, poor decisions, and more money for the wrong solutions.

And here's something people don't often say: climate finance is deeply corrupt.

A new study in ScienceDirect confirms it. Titled“Impact of Corruption on Climate Risk,” the research by Dejun Zhou, Vincent Konadu Tawiah, and Noha Alessa found that in many poor countries, corruption directly increases the risk of climate disasters. Funds are diverted, infrastructure is poorly built, and communities are left more exposed.

“We observed that the effect was particularly pronounced in low economic and financial developing countries,” the study said.“Corruption amplifies the vulnerability of these countries to the adverse impacts of climate change.”

So here we are. A world burning under two fires. One is climate collapse. The other is the theft of money meant to stop it.

What can be done?

We're not against climate action. We're against climate theatre. Journalists must stop copy-pasting press releases and start investigating where the money goes. Governments must demand audits and field checks. Scientists must challenge bad data and inflated claims. And citizens must ask: are we funding real change, or just fancy reports?

This isn't about cynicism. It's about clarity. We can't solve the climate crisis without honesty. And we can't afford to waste another dollar on paper promises.

The planet is tired of talk. It needs the truth.

• Mohammad Younus Bhat, a PhD researcher in Earth Sciences at Pondicherry University, is a co-author of this write-up.

MENAFN05062025000215011059ID1109642894