Open Forum

New Delhi, 14 September 2023

G-20 & Environment Justice

AMBITIOUS TARGETS, BIG CHALLENGE

By Dhurjati Mukherjee 

Just a day before the G-20 summit, the UN climate body stated that limiting the warning to 1.5⁰ C above pre-industrial levels was virtually impossible as progress has still been inadequate. This is quite evident from the fact that the Earth had its hottest three months (June-August) on record, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service showed with August estimated to have been around 1.5⁰C warmer than the pre-industrial average for 1850-1900. 

Scientists are unanimous that these soaring temperatures are caused by atmospheric carbon dioxide linked to emissions from fossil fuels at 419.2 parts per million (ppm), which is very much on the higher side. An important aspect of the warming may be attributed to the destruction of tropical forests in many countries, and India is no exception and forests are now found to release stored carbon with part of the Amazon rainforests emitting more than they absorb. All this leads one to the conclusion that the year 2023 breaching the 1.5⁰C temperature threshold is in sync with the World Meteorological Organisation’s prediction. 

In its first global stock take, the UNFCC reiterated what is well known that global emissions are not in line with desired goals and countries urgently need to set more ambitious targets to reduce GHG emissions further by 60 percent by 2035 compared to 2019 levels. Though this is considered a prerequisite to save the world from the disastrous consequences of climate change such as extreme weather events, desertification, food crises, biodiversity loss etc, the chances of this becoming a reality is indeed remote.  

In such a distressing scenario it is believed that the G-20 summit under India’s presidency aptly highlighted the notion of environmental justice from the viewpoint of the Global South and achieved a lot through skilful negotiations and consensus. Developed countries are of the opinion that ecological problems have accentuated due to population growth in Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, the Third World countries have been advocating that in the Western world imperialism coupled with rampant industrialisation has been at the root of the looming environmental crisis. Thus, to put a brake to accentuating global warming, the present summit has rightly focussed on the need for sharing technology and finance.   

The G-20 Delhi Declaration has taken note of this and come out with some unique solutions apart from the usual resolve to fight together for a save and liveable planet. It underscored the need to mobilise $5.8 trillion from all sources by 2030 for developing countries to implement their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). It goes without saying that the global ecological agenda needs to reflect on shared concerns but how much the West is willing to share with the developing world needs to be seen in the coming years. 

However, apart from technology transfer and credit requirements, there is need for every country to be more aggressive in reducing its carbon footprint. Not that countries, specially the emerging economies, are not taking action but more stringent plans need to be evolved and this has been clearly outlined by the UNFCC. The question arises how much can be done, keeping in view the needs of industrialisation for growth and development of such a huge population. And this is specially true of India.  

According to a recent interview of Lord Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics, the investments needed at this juncture are big around 2 to 3 percent of GDP and more in the emerging economies. “Ä great deal can be financed internally through the government’s resource mobilisation, private capital markets etc. – those numbers are around one trillion dollars a year by 2030 outside China”. The estimated trillion dollars needed is indeed impossible for developing countries to garner unless external help comes. 

As regards India, the International Solar Alliance (ISA) of 2015 has been a huge success and so is Modi’s LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) initiative which shows how people can make changes in everyday life to prioritise both efficiency and ecosystems. In the very preamble to the New Delhi Declaration, LiFE has been recognised as an important tool to address development and climate challenges and conserve biodiversity, forests and oceans. 

And now a very significant achievement of the G-20 Declaration has been the formation of the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA). This would be a second India-led platform after the ISA. Not just the US, but also Italy, Kenya, UAE and Brazil – the world’s second largest biofuel producer – underlined the need for sharing best practices across policy, technology and implementation. As is well known, biofuels are derived from a variety of biomass and considered a low carbon, affordable and sustainable source of energy. In India, the government is pushing biofuels such as ethanol blending of petrol and compressed biogas (CBG) to reduce the economy’s carbon footprint, dependence on imported oil and raise incomes of farmers. 

No less crucial is the ‘Green Development Pact for a Sustainable Future’ where the G-20 leaders promised to pursue efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally through existing targets and policies. As these countries are responsible for 80 percent of GFG emissions and though global warming may exceed the targeted 1.5⁰C, there is need to mobilise resources for controlling emissions to the extent possible. 

Though conferences such as the G-20 spell out ambitious programmes, these may sometimes be difficult for governments to carry out. After the two years of the pandemic, the global economy has taken a beating and most countries have huge debts. In such a scenario, huge investments are needed. There are indications that $100 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund from developed countries – a goal they had committed to be met by 2020 -- may be in the offing. This is definitely a great achievement that the G-20 leaders accomplished. 

That the looming environment crisis is a great challenge before the world cannot be doubted and the G-20 has taken a step forward in resolving some of these issues. With the determination to triple renewable energy globally by 2030, the Delhi Declaration resolved to reduce emissions by 43 percent (relative to the 2019 levels) by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050. Though some of the targets may be too ambitious, the positive outlook and the enthusiasm generated needs to be hailed.---INFA 

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