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Subject: Climate Change

1. Global Warming and Issues
2. All about Pollution

  • Emission caused by Nuclear Energy

    Supporters of the Nuclear Energy source say that it is a climate-friendly way to generate electricity. However, this is subjected to various considerations often not discussed.

    Why focus on Nuclear Energy?

    • The main factors for its choice were reliability and security of supply.
    • The latest figures on global carbon dioxide emissions call into question the world’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

    Soaring CO2 emissions

    • CO2 emissions are set to soar 4.9% in 2021, compared with the previous year, according to a study published earlier this month by the Global Carbon Project (GCP), a group of scientists that track emissions.
    • In 2020, emissions dropped 5.4% due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns.
    • The energy sector continues to be the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, with a share of 40% — and rising.

    Is nuclear power a zero-emissions energy source?

    No. Nuclear energy is also responsible for greenhouse gas emissions.

    • Uranium mining: Uranium extraction, transport and processing produces emissions.
    • Construction of power plants: The long and complex construction process of nuclear power plants also releases CO2, as does the demolition of decommissioned sites.
    • Nuclear waste and its transportation: This also has to be transported and stored under strict conditions — here, too, emissions must be taken into account.
    • Water consumption: Power plants depend on nearby water sources to cool their reactors, and with many rivers drying up, those sources of water are no longer guaranteed.

    How much CO2 does nuclear power produce?

    • Results vary significantly, depending on whether we only consider the process of electricity generation, or take into account the entire life cycle of a nuclear power plant.
    • A report released in 2014 by the IPCC estimated a range of 3.7 to 110 grams of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
    • It’s long been assumed that nuclear plants generate an average of 66 grams of CO2/kWh.

    How climate-friendly is nuclear compared to other energies?

    • If the entire life cycle, nuclear energy certainly comes out ahead of fossil fuels like coal or natural gas.
    • But the picture is drastically different when compared with renewable energy.
    • Nuclear power releases 3.5 times more CO2 per kilowatt-hour than photovoltaic solar panel systems.
    • Compared with onshore wind power, that figure jumps to 13 times more CO2.
    • When up against electricity from hydropower installations, nuclear generates 29 times more carbon.

    Can we rely on nuclear energy to help stop global warming?

    • Around the world, nuclear energy representatives, as well as some politicians, have called for the expansion of atomic power.
    • Other countries have also supported plans to build new nuclear plants, arguing that the energy sector will be even more damaging for the climate without it.

    Feasibility of Nuclear Energy

    • High cost of construction: Due to the high costs associated with nuclear energy, it also blocks important financial resources that could instead be used to develop renewable energy.
    • Renewables are better: Those renewables would provide more energy that is both faster and cheaper than nuclear.
    • High water consumption: During the world’s increasingly hot summers, several nuclear power plants have already had to be temporarily shut down due to water scarcity.

    Conclusion

    • Taking into account the current overall energy system, nuclear energy is by no means CO2 neutral.
    • The contribution of nuclear energy is viewed too optimistically.
    • In reality construction, times are too long and the costs too high to have a noticeable effect on climate change. It takes too long for nuclear energy to become available.

     

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  • India, while moving to renewable energy needs to focus on sustainable well-being

    Context

    With current per capita emissions that are less than half the global average, India’s pledge to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2070 has cemented India’s credentials as a global leader.

    Implication of net-zero by 2070

    • The political implication of the date 2070 is that the world should get to ‘net-zero’ by 2050.
    • For that, the rich countries will need to do more and step up closer to their share of the carbon budget.
    • India’s stand also signals that it will not act under external pressure, as requiring equal treatment is the hallmark of a global power, and will have an impact on other issues.

    How focus on coal harms developing countries

    • The subject of oil was not touched at COP26, even as automobile emissions are the fastest growing emissions, because it is a defining feature of western civilisation.
    • Most abundant source of energy: Coal is the most abundant energy source, essential for base load in electrification, and the production of steel and cement.
    • Its use declines after the saturation level of infrastructure is reached.
    • Declining role of G-7 in rule setting: That India and China working together forced the G7 to make a retraction has signalled the coming of a world order in which the G7 no longer sets the rules.
    • Specific language on finance and adaptation: After 40 years there is more specific language on both finance and adaptation finally recognising that costs and near-term effects of climate change will hit the poorest countries hardest.

    Feasibility of the goal of ‘net-zero’ by 2070

    • Seeing the challenge in terms of the scale and the speed of the transformation of the energy system assumes that India will follow the pathway of western civilisation.
    • Transition to electrification: India is urbanising as it is industrialising, moving directly to electrification, renewable energy and electric vehicles, and a digital economy instead of a focus on the internal combustion engine.
    • Most of the infrastructure required has still to be built and automobiles are yet to be bought.
    • Investment vs. incurring cost: India will not be replacing current systems and will be making investments, not incurring costs.

    Challenge for the West

    • The consumption of affluent households both determines and accelerates an increase of emissions of carbon dioxide.
    • This is followed by socio-economic factors such as mobility and dwelling size.
    • In the West, these drivers have overridden the beneficial effects of changes in technology reflected in the material footprint and related greenhouse-gas emissions.
    • The West has yet to come out with a clear strategy of how it will remain within the broad contours of its carbon budget.
    • And increasing inequality and a rise of protectionism and trade barriers imposing new standards need to be anticipated.
    • This knowledge is essential for national policy as well as the next round of climate negotiations.

    Way forward for India

    • Climate change has to be addressed by the West by reducing consumption, not just greening it.
    • Shifting the consumption pattern: Consumption patterns need to be ‘shifted away from resource and carbon-intensive goods and services, e.g. mobility from cars and aircraft to buses and trains.
    • Reducing the carbon intensity: Along with’ reducing demand, resource and carbon intensity of consumption has to decrease, e.g. expanding renewable energy, electrifying cars and public transport and increasing energy and material efficiency’.
    • Equal distribution of wealth and affordable energy use: Equally important, will be achieving a’ more equal distribution of wealth with a minimum level of prosperity and affordable energy use for all’, e.g., housing and doing away with biomass for cooking.
    • Focused research group: The Government now needs to set up focused research groups for the conceptual frame of sustainable well-being.
    • It should analyse the drivers of affluent overconsumption and circulate synthesis of the literature identifying reforms of the economic systems as well as studies that show how much energy we really need for a decent level of well-being.

    Role for legislature

    • Fundamental duty: After the Stockholm Declaration on the Global Environment, the Constitution was amended in 1976 to include Protection and Improvement of Environment as a fundamental duty.
    • Use of provision under Article 253: Parliament used Article 253 to enact the Environment Protection Act to implement the decisions reached at the Stockholm Conference.
    • Enabling new set of legislation: The decisions at COP26 enable a new set of legislation around ecological limits, energy and land use, including the efficient distribution and use of electricity, urban design and a statistical system providing inputs for sustainable well-being.

    Consider the question “Examine the feasibility of India’s ‘net-zero’ target by 2070, also suggest the way forward for India to achieve the target by focusing on sustainable well being”

    Conclusion

    For India, in parallel with the infrastructure and clean technology thrust, the focus on a decent living standard leads to behavioural change in the end-use service, such as mobility, shelter and nutrition — for change modifying wasteful trends.

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  • Places in news: Majuli River Island

    Soil erosion, coupled with changing climatic conditions, has been writing a cruel destiny for the inhabitants of Majuli in Assam, the largest river island in the world.

    About Majuli Island

    • Majuli is a riverine island in the Brahmaputra River, Assam and in 2016 it became the first island to be made a district in India.
    • Majuli has shrunk as the river surrounding it has grown.
    • It had an area of 880 square kilometers (340 sq mi) at the beginning of the 20th century but having lost significantly to erosion it covers 553 square kilometers as at 2014.
    • It is the abode of the Assamese neo-Vaishnavite culture.

    Its formation

    • The island is formed by the Brahmaputra River in the south and the Kherkutia Xuti, an anabranch of the Brahmaputra, joined by the Subansiri River in the north.
    • It was formed due to course changes by the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries, mainly the Lohit.

     

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  • The heavy lifting on climate action must begin

    Context

    Glasgow’s success was that it finished building the scaffolding for climate action initiated through the Paris Agreement. But true success depends on whether countries are receptive to these nudges.

    What were the Glasgow climate meeting’s (COP26) successes and failures?

    • Strengthened Paris Agreement mechanism: Glasgow strengthened the Paris Agreement mechanism of eliciting pledges from countries and ratcheting them up over time.
    • It requested countries to update and strengthen 2030 emission targets in their NDCs by the end of 2022, earlier than previously expected.
    • Success at Glasgow was explicitly defined around ‘keeping 1.5 degrees alive’ through such pledges.
    • There are two problems with this interpretation.
    • First, the Paris, and Glasgow, approach focusing on target-setting gives insufficient importance to the challenge of implementing those targets.
    • A focus on shorter term targets and their implementation — which India to its credit has been highlighting — will be important.
    • Second, by calling on countries to strengthen targets to align with the Paris Agreement objectives without explicitly considering that countries have different roles and responsibilities in doing so risks side-stepping, again, the long-standing issue of climate equity.

    Phase-down clause for thermal power and implications for India

    • Phasing down coal power: A specific high profile clause calls for the ‘phase down of unabated coal power and phase out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies’.
    • It was the Indian Minister who read out an amendment modifying ‘phase-out’ to ‘phase-down’ for coal.
    • India’s concerns: India’s real concerns included not precluding subsidies for social purposes, such as for cooking gas; querying whether from an equity point of view, all countries should be asked to limit coal use at the same time; and noting the lack of mention of oil and gas.
    • A positive for all from environmental point of view: From an environmental point of view, more explicit discussion of coal, but ideally all fossil fuels, is a positive, including for India.
    • Concerns on developmental view: From a developmental view, however, India is concerned that explicit mention of coal constrains us in our choice of fuel.
    • Way out for India: A possible way out is for India to explicitly seek global support for an accelerated transition away from coal, an approach taken by South Africa.

    Challenges and achievements at COP26

    [A] Measures for adaptations

    • Adaptation has long been neglected in global negotiations, reflecting a global power imbalance that places less weight on the concerns of vulnerable nations.
    • In this context, it was a partial win that Glasgow set up an explicit two year work programme for a ‘global goal’ on adaptation.
    • No development on agenda of loss and damage: The important complementary agenda of ‘loss and damage’ – compensating for unavoidable impacts that go beyond adaptation — received at most lip service.
    • Even though there was discussion of a specific mechanism, backed by funding, to the dismay of small, vulnerable nations, only a ‘dialogue’ was established.

    [B] Climate finance commitment issue not addressed

    • Commitment on climate finance not met: Climate finance promised to be the central issue of COP26, with considerable frustration from developing countries that the decade-long commitment of $100 billion had not been met.
    • Glasgow did no more than establish a work programme on post-2025 financing and continue tracking progress on the $100 billion.
    • The exception was a call to double adaptation finance by 2025.
    • Mobilising private finance: Former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney indicated that companies committed to net zero initiatives could marshal a scarcely believable $130 trillion, suggesting growing efforts to mobilise private finance.
    • Developing countries have long insisted that publicly funded climate finance is a right devolving from the ‘polluter pays’ principle rather than aid.

    [C] Paris rulebook

    • Completion of two elements of Paris Rulebook: There were two particularly important elements of what is called the ‘Paris Rulebook’ that were completed in Glasgow.
    • Transparency framework: First, the transparency framework was completed, which includes reporting rules and formats for emissions, progress on pledges and finance contributions.
    • Rules for carbon market: The second key was completion of agreed rules for carbon markets, the complexities of which had stymied agreement for four years.
    • Rules were put in place to limit the scope for ‘double-counting’ of credits by more than one country.

    Way forward for India

    • The real determinant of success or failure rests on national politics and popular support for climate change within countries — how countries use the scaffolding.
    • For India, these politics are complex because they revolve around simultaneously balancing concerns over whether our policy space will be limited by inequities embedded in the global mitigation efforts, and our own interests as a vulnerable country in enhancing and accelerating climate action.
    • A balanced view requires consideration of both objectives.

    Consider the question “Why climate finance continues to be a contentious issue in the negotiations over climate change? Suggest the way to balance the concerns over development with the efforts at climate action.”

    Conclusion

    The meeting hit many, but not all, of its procedural benchmarks by building scaffolding for the future. But the real determinant of success or failure rests on national politics and popular support for climate change within countries.

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  • Why Glasgow Climate Pact disappoints

    Context

    The Glasgow Climate Pact was adopted on Saturday and, as was to be expected, it is a mixed bag of modest achievements and disappointed expectations.

    Transition away from fossil fuel

    • The Pact is the first clear recognition of the need to transition away from fossil fuels, though the focus was on giving up coal-based power altogether.
    • India introduced an amendment at the last moment to replace this phrase with “phase down” and this played negatively with both the advanced as well as a large constituency of developing countries.
    • This amendment reportedly came as a result of consultations among India, China, the UK and the US.
    • As the largest producer and consumer of coal and coal-based thermal power, it is understandable that China would prefer a gradual reduction rather than total elimination.
    • India may have had similar concerns.

    Recognition of Adaptation

    • There is a welcome recognition of the importance of Adaptation and there is a commitment to double the current finance available for this to developing countries.
    • Since this amount is currently only $15 billion, doubling will mean $ 30 billion.
    • This remains grossly inadequate.
    • According to UNEP, adaptation costs for developing countries are currently estimated at $70 billion annually and will rise to an estimated $130-300 billion annually by 2030.
    • A start is being made in formulating an adaptation plan and this puts the issue firmly on the Climate agenda, balancing the overwhelming focus hitherto on mitigation.

    Disappointment on the issue of finance

    • The Paris Agreement target of $100 billion per annum between 2005-2020 was never met with the shortfall being more than half, according to some calculations.
    • There is now a renewed commitment to delivering on this pledge in the 2020-2025 period and there is a promise of an enhanced flow thereafter.
    • But in a post-pandemic global economic slowdown, it is unlikely these promises will be met.
    • In any event, it is unlikely that India will get even a small slice of the pie.
    • The same applies to the issue of compensation for loss and damage for developing countries who have suffered as a result of climate change for which they have not been responsible.

    Initiatives on methane and deforestation

    • Two important plurilateral outcomes could potentially develop into more substantial measures.
    • The most important is an agreement among 100 countries to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.
    • India is not a part of this group.
    • Cutting methane emissions, which is generated mainly by livestock, is certainly useful but there is a much bigger methane emergency around the corner as the earth’s permafrost areas in Siberia, Greenland and the Arctic littoral begin to melt due to global warming that has already taken place and will continue to take place in the coming years.
    • Another group of 100 countries has agreed to begin to reverse deforestation by 2030.
    • India did not join the group due to concerns over a clause on possible trade measures related to forest products.

    Implications of US-China Joint Declaration on Climate Change for India

    • Declaration was a departure for China, which had held that bilateral cooperation on climate change could not be insulated from other aspects of their relations.
    • The declaration implies a shift in China’s hardline position.
    • It appears both countries are moving towards a less confrontational, more cooperative relationship overall.
    • This will have geopolitical implications, including for India, which may find its room for manoeuvre shrinking.

    Conclusion

    As in the past, the can has been kicked down the road, except that the climate road is fast approaching a dead-end. What provides a glimmer of light is the incredible and passionate advocacy of urgent action by young people across the world. This is putting enormous pressure on governments and leaders and if sustained, may become irresistible.

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  • Glasgow Climate Pact (COP26)

    The Glasgow Agreement was finally adopted after a last-minute intervention by India to water down language on “phasing out” coal to merely “phasing down”.

    Glasgow Agreement

    • The Glasgow meeting was the 26th session of the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP26.
    • These meetings are held every year to construct a global response to climate change.
    • Each of these meetings produce a set of decisions which are given different names.
    • In the current case, this has been called the Glasgow Climate Pact.
    • Earlier, these meetings have also delivered two treaty-like international agreements, the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the Paris Agreement in 2015.

    What was achieved?

    [1] Mitigation:

    • The Glasgow agreement has emphasised that stronger action in the current decade was most critical to achieving the 1.5-degree target.
    • Accordingly, it has asked/decided:
    1. To strengthen their 2030 climate action plans, or NDCs (nationally-determined contributions), by next year
    2. Establish a work programme to urgently scale-up mitigation ambition and implementation
    3. To convene an annual meeting of ministers to raise ambition of 2030 climate actions
    4. Annual synthesis report on what countries were doing
    5. To convene a meeting of world leaders in 2023 to scale-up ambition of climate action
    6. Countries to make efforts to reduce usage of coal as a source of fuel, and abolish “inefficient” subsidies on fossil fuels
    7. Phase-down of coal, and phase-out of fossil fuels. This is the first time that coal has been explicitly mentioned in any COP decision.

    [2] Adaptation:

    • Most of the countries, especially the smaller and poorer ones, and the small island states, consider adaptation to be the most important component of climate action.
    • They have been demanding that at least half of all climate finance should be directed towards adaptation efforts.
    • As such, the Glasgow Climate Pact has:
    1. Asked the developed countries to at least double the money being provided for adaptation by 2025 from the 2019 levels.
    2. Created a two-year work programme to define a global goal on adaptation.

    [3] Finance:

    • Every climate action has financial implications. It is now estimated that trillions of dollars are required every year to fund all the actions necessary to achieve the climate targets.
    • Developed countries are under an obligation, due to their historical responsibility in emitting greenhouse gases.
    • They need to provide finance and technology to the developing nations to help them deal with climate change.
    • In 2009, developed countries had promised to mobilise at least $100 billion every year from 2020.
    • The 2020 deadline has long passed but the $100 billion promise has not been fulfilled.
    • The developed nations have now said that they will arrange this amount by 2023.

    [4] Accounting earlier failures

    The pact has:

    • Expressed “deep regrets” over the failure of the developed countries to deliver on their $100 billion promise.
    • It has asked them to arrange this money urgently and in every year till 2025
    • Initiated discussions on setting the new target for climate finance, beyond $100 billion for the post-2025 period
    • Asked the developed countries to provide transparent information about the money they plan to provide

    [5] Loss and Damage:

    The frequency of climate disasters has been rising rapidly, and many of these caused largescale devastation.

    • There is no institutional mechanism to compensate these nations for the losses, or provide them help in the form of relief and rehabilitation.
    • The loss and damage provision in the Paris Agreement seeks to address that.
    • Thanks to a push from many nations, substantive discussions on loss and damage could take place in Glasgow.
    • One of the earlier drafts included a provision for setting up of a facility to coordinate loss and damage activities.

    [6] Carbon Markets:

    • Carbon markets facilitate the trading of emission reductions.
    • They are considered a very important and effective instrument to reduce overall emissions.
    • A carbon market existed under Kyoto Protocol but is no longer there because the Protocol itself expired last year.
    • Developing countries like India, China or Brazil have large amounts of carbon credits left over because of the lack of demand as many countries abandoned their emission reduction targets.
    • The Glasgow Pact has offered some reprieve to the developing nations.
    • It has allowed these carbon credits to be used in meeting countries’ first NDC targets.

    Parallel Processes announced

    A lot of substantial action in Glasgow happened in parallel processes that were not a part of the official COP discussions.

    • India announced a Panchamrita (a mixture of five elements) of climate actions.
    • Brazil would advance its net-zero target year from 2060 to 2050.
    • China promised to come out with a detailed roadmap for its commitment to let emissions peak in 2030, and also for its 2060 net-zero target. Israel announced a net zero target for 2050.
    • Over 100 countries pledged to reduce methane emissions by at least 30 per cent from present levels by 2030.
    • Another set of over 100 countries promised to arrest and reverse deforestation by 2030.
    • Over 30 countries signed on to a declaration promising to work towards a transition to 100 percent zero-emission cars by the year 2040, at least in the leading car markets of the world.

     

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  • Recurring urban floods point to need for moving away from land-centric urbanism

    Context

    Flood in Chennai has revived memories of the devastating Chennai floods of 2015, a collective trauma that its residents are yet to outlive.

    Role of climate change

    • In August this year, as monsoon floods raged across the subcontinent, IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report (AR6) was published.
    • The report noted the increasing frequency of heavy precipitation events since the 1950s and inferred that they were being driven by human-induced climate change.
    • The climate crisis, is here.
    • It has made extreme rainfall events more severe and unpredictable than ever before.

    Role of poor planning and encroachment

    • In 2015, the National Green Tribunal in India formed a committee to report on the status of natural stormwater drains in Delhi.
    • On inspection, out of the 201 “drains” recorded in 1976, 44 were found to be “missing.
    • Geospatial imaging established that 376 km of natural storm drains — encroached on and paved over — had disappeared from Bengaluru.
    • In both cases, these “missing” waterways were either encroached and built over or connected to sewage drains.
    • Poor design and corruption significantly contribute to urban floods.
    • By violating environmental laws and municipal bye-laws, open spaces, wetlands and floodplains have been mercilessly built over, making cities impermeable and hostile to rainwater.

    Way forward

    • We need to move away from land-centric urbanisation and recognise cities as waterscapes.
    • We need to let urban rivers breathe by returning them to their floodplains.
    • The entire urban watershed needs to heal, and for that to happen, we need less concrete and more democracy and science at the grassroots.

    Conclusion

    Ever since concretisation became shorthand for urbanisation, rainfall in a changing climate no longer finds its way towards subterranean capillaries or surface water bodies.

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  • Challenges in India’s net-zero emission target

    Context

    Even though New Delhi has invested in renewable energy and announced a net-zero target, there is a gap between the announcements and the ground reality, as is evident from the promotion of coal.

    India’s commitments

    •  AT the COP 26 in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India has set a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
    • India also updated its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that have to be met by 2030.
    • Its new pledge includes increasing the country’s installed renewable capacity to 500 GW, meeting 50 per cent of its energy requirements from non-fossil fuel sources.

    India’s achievements on past commitments

    • At the COP 21 in Paris, India, made similar ambitious announcements and aimed to reduce the economy-wide emissions intensity by 33-35 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
    • In August, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy announced that the country has installed 100 GW of renewable energy capacity.
    • The majority of this 100 GW, about 78 per cent, is due to large-scale wind and solar power projects.
    • While this is a milestone, India is on track to accomplishing only about two-thirds of its planned renewable target of 175 GW installation by 2022.
    •  To achieve its new goals, India will need to do more in different directions.
    • For instance, it has a target of achieving 40 GW of green energy from the rooftop solar sector by 2022, but it has not been able to achieve even 20 per cent of that so far.
    • In the transport sector, India has targeted a 30 per cent share of electric vehicles (EV) in new sales for 2030.

    India’s climate actions against the Paris Agreement targets

    •  The Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific analysis that tracks government climate action against the Paris Agreement targets, deems India’s performance as “highly insufficient” simply because coal represents about 70 per cent of the country’s energy supply. 
    • India also needs to cut down subsidies to the fossil fuel industry drastically — not the case currently.
    • While in the past seven years, the country has invested Rs 5.2 trillion in renewable energy, the investment in fossil fuel industry, though down by (only) 4 per cent from 2015-19, was Rs 245 trillion.
    • Coal production is estimated to increase to one billion tonnes by 2024 from 716 million tonnes in 2020-21.
    • According to the Central Electricity Authority, coal capacity is projected to increase from 202GW in 2021 to 266GW by 2029-30.
    • The Government of India is not actively discouraging such investments.
    • On the contrary, coal subsidies are still 35 per cent higher than the subsidies for renewables and coal-fired power generation receives indirect financial support from the government through income tax exemptions and land acquisition at a preferential rate.

    Conclusion

    It is also true that India’s energy transition would be in its own interest because, otherwise, economic growth will not be sustainable and human security will be at stake if dozens of millions of climate refugees are created due to the devastating consequences of climate change.

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  • Does India have a right to burn fossil fuels?

    Context

    There has been quite a lot of debate on India’s dependence on coal against the backdrop of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) meeting. The crux of the theoretical argument is that India needs to develop, and development requires energy.

    Carbon budget framework

    • India has neither historically emitted nor currently emits carbon anywhere close to what the global North has, or does, in per capita terms.
    • If anything, the argument goes, it should ask for a higher and fairer share in the global carbon budget.
    • There is no doubt that this carbon budget framework is an excellent tool to understand global injustice but to move from there to our ‘right to burn’ is a big leap.
    • However, the question is do the countries in the global South necessarily need to increase their share in the global carbon budget?

    Why should developing countries aim for development without increasing carbon emission

    1) Reducing the cost of renewable energy

    • Normally the argument in favour of coal is on account of its cost, reliability and domestic availability.
    • Recent data show that the levelised cost of electricity from renewable energy sources like solar (photovoltaic), hydro and onshore wind has been declining sharply over the last decade and is already less than fossil fuel-based electricity generation.
    •  On reliability, frontier renewable energy technologies have managed to address the question of variability of such sources to a large extent and, with technological progress, it seems to be changing for the better.
    • As for the easy domestic availability of coal, it is a myth.
    • India is among the largest importers of coal in the world, whereas it has no dearth of solar energy.

    2) Following different development model

    •  During the debates of post-colonial development in the Third World, there were two significant issues under discussion — control over technology and choice of techniques to address the issue of surplus labour.
    • India didn’t quite resolve the two issues in its attempts of import-substituting industrialisation which worsened during the post-reform period.
    • But it can address both today.
    • The abundance of renewable natural resources in the tropical climate can give India a head start in this competitive world of technology.
    • South-South collaborations can help India avoid the usual patterns of trade between the North and the South, where the former controls technology and the latter merely provides inputs.
    • And the high-employment trajectory that the green path entails vis-à-vis the fossil fuel sector may help address the issue of surplus labour, even if partially.
    • Such a path could additionally provide decentralised access to clean energy to the poor and the marginalised, including in remote regions of India.

    3) Limitation of addressing global injustice in terms of a carbon budget

    •  The framework of addressing global injustice in terms of a carbon budget is quite limiting in its scope in more ways than one.
    • Such an injustice is not at the level of the nation-states alone; there is such injustice between the rich and the poor within nations and between humans and non-human species.
    • A progressive position on justice would take these injustices into account instead of narrowly focusing on the framework of nation-states.
    • Moreover, it’s a double whammy of injustice for the global South when it comes to climate change.
    • Not only is it not primarily responsible, but the global South, especially its poor, will unduly bear the effect of climate change because of its tropical climate and high population density along the coastal lines.
    • So, arguing for more coal is like shooting oneself in the foot.

    Way forward

    • One of the ways in which this can be done is by making the global North pay for the energy transition in the South.
    • Chalking out an independent, greener path to development may create conditions for such negotiations and give the South the moral high ground to force the North to come to the table, like South Africa did at Glasgow.

    Conclusion

    Even if one is pessimistic about this path of righting the wrongs of the past, at the very least, it is better than the status quo.

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  • Net-zero presents many opportunities for India — and challenges

    Context

    India joined the other G20 countries in making a “net-zero” commitment, setting 2070 as its target year.

    Why was it important to sign up for net-zero?

    • India’s topography — its 7,000 km-long coastline, the Himalayan glaciers in the north, and its rich forest areas which house natural resources like coal and iron ore — make the country uniquely vulnerable to climate change.
    • An IMF study suggests that if emissions continue to rise this century, India’s real GDP per capita could fall by 10 per cent by 2100.
    • India’s traditional position has been that since its per capita energy use is only a third of the global average, and it needs to continue to grow to fight poverty, costly energy reduction targets should not be applied to it.

    Opportunities presented by India’s net-zero approach

    •  It could give a clear signal of India’s intentions and provide better access to international technology, funding and markets.
    • We estimate that 60 per cent of India’s capital stock — factories and buildings that will exist in 2040 — is yet to be built.
    • The country can potentially leapfrog into new green technology, rather than being overburdened with “re-fitting” obligations.
    • If India can now transition to green growth, it could create a more responsible and sustainable economy.
    • If India’s exports achieve a “green stamp”, they may find better market access, especially if the world imposes a carbon tax on exports.
    • Around 2-2.5 million additional jobs can be created in the renewables sector by 2050, taking the total number of people employed there to over 3 million.

    Challenges

    • The finances of power distribution companies need to be improved to fund the grid upgrades necessary for scaling up renewables.
    • India needs a coordinated institutional framework that can help overcome multiple levels of complexity like federalism, fiscal constraints and bureaucracy.
    • The energy investment requirement will be high, rising from about $70-80 billion per year now to $160 billion per year.
    •  While the private sector will be required to fund much of this, the government can play a pivotal role, especially in the early days.
    • The transition years will be bumpy.
    • Inflation could be volatile till renewables reached their full potential.

    Conclusion

    India is on the right track but needs to redouble its efforts to remove the obstacles.

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