India reiterated its commitment to the Paris Climate Accord or the Paris Agreement, which suggests that India is committed towards climate change restoration. This happened just before the Climate Ambition Summit which was held on 12th December, 2020.
The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, signed in 2016. The objective of the Climate Ambition Summits are to set out new and ambitious commitments under the three pillars of the Paris Agreement that are mitigation, adaptation and finance commitments. The Climate Ambition Summit 2020 marked the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, and provided a platform for government and non-governmental leaders to demonstrate their commitment to the Paris Agreement and the multilateral process.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, UK decided to host a virtual Climate Ambition Summit this year. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to lead the way by announcing his government would cease funding for overseas fossil fuel projects as an early step towards meeting the UK government’s recently stated target of reducing its carbon emissions by 68 percent on 1990 levels by 2030.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also addressed the meeting and mentioned that India is not only on track to achieve its Paris Agreement targets but is to exceed them beyond expectations. He also informed that India has reduced its carbon emission intensity by 21% over 2005 levels.
India’s contribution in curbing climate change and reducing emission has been remarkable. This is evident due to the following facts. : –
- India’s renewable energy capacity is the 4th largest in the world and it will reach 175 GigaWatts in 2022.
- India has an even more ambitious target of achieving 450 GigaWatts of renewable energy capacity by the year 2030.
- India has been active in safeguarding its biodiversity and expanding its forest cover.
- India has pioneered two major initiatives ‘Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure’ and ‘International Solar Alliance’.
- National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy was introduced in 2018. The main objective of the policy is to provide a framework for promotion of large grid connected wind-solar photovoltaic (PV) hybrid systems for optimal and efficient utilization of wind and solar resources, transmission infrastructure and land.
- Bharat Stage (BS) VI norms: These are emission control standards put in place by the government to keep a check on air pollution. Such norms and schemes helped India in cutting CO2 emissions by 164 million kg.
UK PM Boris Johnson praised India’s ‘incredible’ solar power strides at climate summit. The conference was hosted by The United Nations, United Kingdom and France in partnership with Chile and Italy. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on more countries to declare a “climate emergency” in recognition of the severity of this existential crisis and the scale of the challenge that lies ahead. The Secretary-General of United Nations urged the leaders of the member nations to show ambition and stop assaulting the planet and must do what is essential to guarantee the future of children and grandchildren. General-Secretary Antonio Guterres highlighted that the international community might be able to reach the carbon neutrality which is set out in the Paris Agreement only if global emission will be reduced by 45% by 2030 compared to the levels of 2010.
There are various hindrances in the process of achieving targets for reversing the damage on climate. Most of the nations have been slow to update their national contributions for reducing emissions for 2025-2030. However, several nations have announced net zero emission targets in the recent past.
Net zero emission means that all man-made greenhouse gas emissions must be removed from the atmosphere through reduction measures, thus reducing the Earth’s net climate balance. The plans and policies of nations are not credible enough to meet the long term net zero targets, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1.5 degrees Celsius Report indicated that to stay within a reasonable chance of achieving 1.5 degrees Celsius, global CO2 emissions have to fall by 45% from the 2010 levels by 2030 but current national contributions are not on track for such a fall. There is limited or no accountability for the long-term net zero goals and short-term national contributions. Many net zero goals have not yet been embedded in national contributions and long-term strategies under the Paris Agreement. Issues of fairness and justice, both between and within generations, are unavoidable. There is no mechanism to check whether the net zero targets and pathways to net zero are fair or how much the states are doing in comparison to others and relative to how much they should.
