Climate Crisis

In the next fortnight, a world desperate for solutions to the climate crisis will be hoping for a much improved outcome from the UNFCCC’s 26th Conference of Parties at Glasgow compared to what the meet achieved two years ago. The spectacular failure of COP-25 in Madrid-the conference wasn’t held last year because of the Covid pandemic – to complete the process of framing rules of the Paris Pact despite going overtime by almost two days had shown a light on the disconnect between global climate diplomacy and the imperative to bring down GHG emissions. Exorcising the ghosts of the longest meet in UNFCCC’s history will require breaking the impasse between India, China and Brazil and the industrialised countries over the future of carbon markets. The latter have stonewalled attempts to allow the transition of carbon credits earned in the pre-Paris pact era into the landmark deal’s rulebook, claiming that many of these credits do not accurately represent emissions reductions. The Madrid wrangling represented a new low, even for a process that has often been found wanting, largely because of the developed world’s failure to honour its commitments – financial, technological and emissions-related. Much has, however, happened since December 2019 to demand that negotiators at Glasgow do more than completing the unfinished tasks of Madrid. Weather has become more unpredictable, the pandemic has necessitated joining dots between health and environment and the world is roiled by an energy crisis. In August, an IPCC report warned that the planet could be hotter by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius in the next two decades, even if nations began to cut emissions drastically immediately. These dire warnings have sharpened focus on the Paris Pact’s voluntary mechanism to cut emissions – the Nationally Determined
Contributions. The NDCs have always been criticised for being cumulatively inadequate to prevent a more than 2 degrees temperature rise compared to the pre-Industrial era – the more conservative determinant of the Paris Pact’s determinants. Now, with cataclysmic temperature rise feared much earlier, developed nations have begun to amplify their earlier calls for more global climate ambition. Most discussions in the run-up to COP-26 have focused on the need of all countries to commit to a net-zero carbon emissions target by around 2050.

Historically, India has been a strong proponent of climate justice. The aggravating crisis is bound to precipitate demands to attenuate its claims. The country’s negotiators must be steadfast in not ceding its development space. India, after all, is well on course to meeting its Paris goals.

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