Mantra of climate change: Reduce & Reverse emissions

 By Dr. Arvind Kumar, President, India Water Foundation

Global fossil CO2 emissions reached a new record high of 36.7 Gigatonnes in 2019, 62% higher than in 1990 with human activities emitted 42 billion tonnes of CO₂ in 2019 alone. With CO2 emissions in the early 2020s fallen by an estimated 7% due to COVID-19, let us not take a step back to further our efforts towards curbing the emissions and especially when we have to ensure our commitments under Paris Agreement. Given this glaring statistics, how can we fill the gaps to close this climate variability?

The above facts are presented in United in Science Report 2020 compiled by World Meteorological Organization under the direction of the United Nations Secretary-General to bring together the latest climate science related updates from a group of key global partner organizations such as Global Carbon Project (GCP), UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Met Office.

The world is set to see its warmest five years on record – in a trend which is likely to continue - and is not on track to meet agreed targets to keep global temperature increase well below 2 °C or at 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. In the words of António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, “Never before has it been so clear that we need long-term, inclusive, clean transitions to tackle the climate crisis and achieve sustainable development, he is right to point on the need to recover towards actions that speak partnerships to crack the code of climate change. In fact, it is noted that 2016–2020 is expected to be the warmest on record with an average global mean surface temperature of 1.1 °C above pre-industrial era (1850–1900). The report also highlights the increasing and irreversible impacts of climate change affecting glaciers, oceans, nature, economies and human living conditions and is observed through water-related hazards like drought or flooding or melting of glaciers. The global ocean, a considerable carbon sink has warmed unabated since 1970 and has taken up more than 90% of the excess heat in the climate system.

This directs the need for increased global coordination to partner along clean and green measures and climate-friendly stimulus to expand their green recovery efforts in order to sustain on Planet A, as there is no Planet B. We ought to acknowledge the fact that human-induced climate change is affecting life-sustaining system and turning a deaf ear to the cries of climate change shall worsen the situation further.

We need science, solidarity and solutions. Moreover, it is still possible to bridge the emissions gap, but will require concerted and integrated actions by all countries. Adaptation and integrated risk management responses should be directed towards mitigating the risks and restoring the ecosystem. We need to increase resilience through complementary networks across surface and space-based platforms to curb our emissions. The European Union is at the greener end of the spectrum with about 30 per cent of its €750 billion stimulus plan and its €1.1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) 2021-2027 budget dedicated to climate-friendly investments and France and Germany are front-runners in green measures. Our Environment minister Shri Prakash Javadekar is optimistic that India will reduce carbon emissions by 35% in 10 years with committed green endeavors and called for up-scaling solar power capacity from 175 to 220 GW by 2022, which is commendable.

Today, we witness that emissions are heading in the direction of pre-pandemic levels following a temporary decline caused by the lockdown and economic slowdown. But, this is a temporary respite. Sustained reductions in emissions are required to stabilize global warming. Let’s turn to the COVID as opportunity to reverse the climate trend and build our Future Green and Better for times to come. 

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