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What is the background?
- Recently, the IPCC report focusses on keeping warming to under 1.5°C as compared to pre-industrial times.
- It also said that to achieve the 1.5°C target, a 45% reduction in emissions over 2010 levels must be made by 2030.
- This is a challenge for all big economies, including India, which is among the top five emitters of carbon dioxide.
- Accordingly, negotiators from 196 countries recently finalised a rulebook for the 2015 Paris Agreement at the Katowice climate conference.
- This reflects strong support among citizens of all countries for urgent action to avert dangerous climate change.
What should be the response from India?
- India’s emission of CO2 per capita stands at an estimated 1.2 tonnes, which is far below the global average of 4.2 tonnes.
- Yet, cumulative emissions (country’s total historic emissions) determine the impact on climate, and India’s emissions grew at an estimated 6.3% in 2018.
- Thus, India has to systematically assess its emissions and measure mitigation actions for reporting to the UNFCCC at stock-taking meetings.
- India needs to take action on several fronts –
- Scaling up solar and wind power in line with the goal of reaching 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022
- Steadily reducing reliance on coal
- Shifting substantially to electric mobility
- Adopting green industrial processes.
- India could also tax luxury emissions and use the dividend achieved to give energy access to the poor, thereby ensuring a stable indigenous green climate funding linkages.
- India should also make regulatory changes that favour environment-friendly alternatives in sectors like energy production, building, agriculture and transport.
- With respect to transportation sector, both China and U.S., (top two emitters), has already taken the lead in advancing electric mobility, thereby reducing their carbon footprint.
- A clean-up in India will thus help meet emissions commitments and remove the blanket of air pollution that is suffocating entire cities.
What should be done?
- Indian negotiators put forth legitimate concerns on the likely social impact of the new rules that will operationalise the Paris Agreement in 2020.
- However, increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and the associated sea level rise that affects small island states allows little room for complacency.
- Hence, the task now is to achieve a paradigm shift that will slow down the addition of new sources of carbon emissions.
Source: The Hindu
