India among 4 big economies set to meet Paris climate goals | India ... - IndiaTimes
Emissions Targets: India among 4 big economies set to meet Paris climate goals | India News - Times of India
NEW DELHI: Unveiling a stark disparity in climate action ahead of the upcoming UN climate conference (CO), a new report of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) - an international coalition of 58 countries highly vulnerable to a warming planet - said that India, Indonesia, the UK and Switzerland alone are amongst major economies currently on track to meet Paris Agreement goals based on their pledged targets for 2030.
Arvind Kejriwal inaugurates construction and demolition waste recycling plant at Jahangirpuri
The study, released on Monday, found that major economies largely set emissions targets that assume all nations reduce emissions at the same rate, failing to account for their greater share of pollution or to distinguish efforts between the richest and poorest countries based on their respective historical emissions.
Of the major emerging economies, India, home to almost a fifth of the world's population, produces just 2.9 tonne of CO2 per person compared to the G7 average of 11.7 tonne of per capita emission (2021 data). Against the global per capita emission of 6.4 tonne of CO2 in 2021, EU's (27 nations) per capita emission is 8.1 tonne whereas China's per capita emission stands at 10.1 tonne and the US's per capita emission stands at 17.5 tonne (six times more than India).
Flagging the gaps, the CVF's study - called Traffic Light Assessment Report: Fair Share Pathways to Combat Global Climate Breakdown - aims to hold nations accountable by assessing their alignment with the Paris Agreement's temperature and equity principles.
"Countries not pledging their fair share to deliver the Paris Agreement are overwhelmingly the world's wealthiest and highest capability nations (based on GDP/ HDI)," said the report, noting that India and Indonesia are the only two countries among the G20 nations whose climate actions are compliant to their respective Paris Agreement goals for 2030. It reveals that while a majority of countries are compliant, wealthy nations, particularly those in the G7 and G20, are falling significantly short.
"The major economies, especially in the West, have spent the past century growing rich off the back of fossil-fuel-powered industrialisation. As vulnerable nations, we are convinced it is only fair that those who polluted the most in the past must make a greater effort to tackle climate change, especially when they are also the richest and most capable to act," said Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, chair of the CVF.
The report assumes significance in view of the global stocktake of climate actions of countries which will be concluded during the CO during November 30 - December 12 in Dubai, UAE.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”