Climate Change Negotiations "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• China’s announcement of achieving net-zero by 2060 is a stepping stone in the fight against climate change. But it means nothing until countries share the goals they intend to follow.

 

 

Climate change: A disaster in making

• Anthropogenic climate change can be traced back to the industrial revolution.
• The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse gas has increased to 415 parts per million (ppm) from 280 ppm since then.
• A global momentum, therefore, was required to get all countries on board.

 

Realization of climate action: Birth of UNFCCC

• The idea led to the formation of the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC, also known as ‘The Convention’) in 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
• The convention divided the countries on the basis of their differing commitments: Annex I and II consisted of industrialized and developed countries and Non-Annex I comprised developing countries.

 

A timeline

 

 

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and India

• India ratified the UNFCCC in 1993.
• The nodal agency for the UNFCCC in India is the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• Since India is a developing country, it is not required to adhere to GHG mitigation commitments because of its relatively smaller emissions and also because of lesser technical and financial capacities.
• India has been a big champion of the principles of Equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capability (CBDR-RC) at the Convention.
• This is primarily based on the belief that developed countries have largely been responsible for the huge emission levels, owing to their being industrialized decades before the other countries.
• A scientific study carried on greenhouse gas emissions from the time period 1850 to 2012  estimated that the US, China and the European Union would contribute to 50 per cent of temperature increase by 2100.
• The total emissions’ share in the given time period of the US, European Union, and China is 20%, 17%, 12% respectively.
• On the other hand, India is responsible for only 5%.
• Another reason is that developing countries and LDCs would have to accord eradicating poverty and other developmental activities more priority as compared to environmental concerns. So, they should be allowed leeway in assessing capabilities in addressing climate change.
• India has played an active role in taking steps to mitigate climate change, as the country is exposed to risks associated with climate change like erratic monsoons and natural calamities like floods, droughts, landslides, etc.
• National Environment Policy, 2006 promotes sustainable development along with respect for ecological constraints and the imperatives of social justice.
• The Government of India launched the National Action Plan on Climate Change in 2008. Read more about it in the linked article.
• At COP 21 (Paris Agreement), India had made various commitments to be achieved by 2030.
• One commitment was to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
• For more on the commitments made by India, check the article on Paris Agreement.
• India was instrumental in the formation of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. Read more about it in PIB dated Nov 14, 2019.
• In the UN Climate talks that were held in Poland, India reiterated that the CBDR principle must be adhered to even as there were growing concerns that developed countries were trying to dilute it.

Paris agreement

COP 21: The Pathbreaker

• In 2015, the Paris agreement was finally adopted and the INDCs were annexed to it.
• It was agreed that the Paris agreement would start from 2021.
• 2015 was known as a year of multilateral agreements because, in addition to the Paris agreement, sustainable development goals and Sendai Framework was also adopted.
• 2015, therefore, came out to be a successful year.

 

Post Paris Agreement

• The retreat of developed countries: In all these post-2020 talks, developed countries tactfully avoided their pre-2020 commitments by not ratifying the Kyoto protocol.
• Post-Paris discussions for the finalization of the Rulebook began.
• Most were finalised in 2018, except the market mechanism and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas which are due in COP26 in 2021.

 

Agenda for next COP in 2021

• The next COP will be in 2021 in Glasgow with two sets of agendas for discussion.
• The first will be to complete the rule-book of Paris Agreement implementation, whose two aspects regarding Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM) architecture and MRV framework are yet to be completed.
• The second will be to ensure smooth implementation of the Paris Agreement from 1st January 2021.
• Countries are expected to revise their NDCs as the present course of activities is projected to cause an increase in temperature of 2.8-3 C rise.

 

The situation today: Nothing beyong big promises

• China’s recent announcement of achieving net-zero by 2060 comes across as the stepping stone of future climate change mitigation efforts.
• Political announcements, however, mean nothing until countries actually share the goals they intend to follow.
• On the contrary, India is the only country whose NDCs are in line with the 2 degrees Celsius target.
• Another substantial happening in the domain of climate change includes Joe Biden’s promise of joining the Paris Agreement; it would bring the US back to the GCF fund.