Subject: Climate Change

As we know, 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris making a progress on crucial climate change issue. Let’s take a glance on Lima-Paris Action Agenda

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What’s the prime motive of LPAA?

1. The Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) is a joint undertaking of the Peruvian and French COP presidencies, the Office of the Secretary-General of United Nations and the UNFCCC Secretariat.
2. It aims to strengthen climate action throughout 2015, in Paris in December and well beyond through mobilizing robust global action towards low carbon and resilient societies.

What are the LPAA initiatives – addressing Water and Ocean Resilience?

• Paris Pact on Water and Adaptation
• MegaCities Coalition on water
• Business Alliance for Water and Climate Change
• Adaptation of the West African coastal areas
• Maritime Regions in Action against Climate Change.

What’s the Paris Pact on Water and Climate Change Adaptation?

• A broad coalition of nations, river basin organizations, business and civil society announced the creation of the international Paris Pact on Water and Climate Change Adaptation.
• This is to make water systems, the very foundation of sustainable human development, more resilient to climate impacts.
• Water Resilience Focus event highlighted key partnerships and coalitions to make river basins, lakes, aquifers and deltas more resilient to climate change and reduce human interference with oceans.
• Almost 290 water basin organisations are engaged under pact.

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What’s the scope of Paris pact on Water?

These major collaborative projects combined represent over US$20 million in technical assistance and potentially over US$ 1 billion in financing.

They include –

• A financial commitment by India to build climate resilience through improved groundwater management.
• In the Niger Basin (9 African countries involved), the launch of a 10-year investment plan to strengthen resilience to climate change.
• In Jordan, Lebanon, Monaco, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia, a 7-year commitment under Mediterranean Water Platform to assess the state and trends of water resources, supported by the European commission.
• In China, a 3-year commitment to improve management of the Hai river basin, supported by France.

What about Cities? Are they committing to strengthen the resilient water systems?

• Indeed, the Mega Cities Coalition, involving 10 megacities with 85 million people, is establishing a knowledge exchange platform.
• The World Bank Group’s financial commitment of USD 200 million to enhance Water Security and Climate Resilience in Kenya’s Coastal Region.
• A financing program, including 50 million euros from AFD and 15 million euros from Senegal, to protect 300 000 people from flooding Pikine, a suburb of Dakar.

How many countries planning to join a coalition to enhance resilience of deltas?

• The Delta Coalition includes 12 countries (Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, South-Korea, Mozambique, Myanmar, Netherlands, Philippines, Vietnam, France and Bangladesh).
• To bring deltas to the forefront of global policy discussions, build partnerships and focus on action, aiming to increase resilience for almost 250 million people in deltas in these 12 countries.

How does it enhance the action on conservation and resilience of oceans to climate change?

• Commercial shipping: The maritime transport sector is taking action to reduce greenhouse gases emissions 20 % by 2020 in tonnes-km, and 50 % by 2050.
• Adaptation and marine ecosystem conservation: More marine protected areas, World Heritage recognition, children’s education, innovative funding support such as debt-for-nature swaps.
• Coastal risk management and adaptation: Solutions to rising sea levels, coastal erosion, flooding and extreme climate.

Do you really think that, Lima-Paris Action Agenda would pave the way for sustainable development and climate change? Why or why not?

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Published with inputs from Arun

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This is the 3rd explainer in the series of articles on Paris Climate Talks and the underlying issues.

Previous articles, here: Part 1 & Part 2

In this article, we will explore the newly emerged concept of INDCs, which will shape the Paris climate change negotiations.

What is an INDC?

INDCs, known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions.

INDCs are bottom-up commitments from nations defining the extent of their emissions reduction contribution towards this global goal.

INDCs showcase a paradigm shift from top-down approach to bottom-up system, in deciding the commitments towards climate change.

Countries have agreed to publicly outline what post-2020 climate actions they intend to take under a new international agreement, known as their INDCs.

Why are INDCs important for climate change?

These INDCs will form the basis for the most awaited Paris Climate Change agreement by the end of this year, which will put in place a new protocol from 2020.

It will largely determine whether the world achieves an ambitious 2015 agreement and is put on a path toward a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.

Ambitious, equitable and transparent INDCs can provide the world a fighting chance to tackle climate change.

How does the process work?

The process for INDCs pairs national policy-setting in which countries determine their contributions in the context of their national priorities, circumstances and capabilities.

It will be accompanied with a global framework where each country drives the collective action towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.

INDCs are the primary means for govts to communicate internationally the steps they will take to address climate change in their own countries.

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What do India’s INDC look like?

Indian INDCs are inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”

• India has promised to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35% by 2030 from 2005 levels. < The GHG emission intensity means the ratio between a country’s gross emissions to its gross domestic product at a particular point. >
• To increase the share of non-fossil fuel sources in it’s energy portfolio to about 40% by 2030.
• To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

These emission intensity-reduction targets and adaptation to climate change will require about $2.5 trillion

How will India mobilise funds to fulfill its INDC commitment?

INDC data estimates spending of atleast $2.5 trillion between 2015-30 to meets its ambitious INDC target.

India is banking on fiscal measures including fuel subsidy cuts and increased taxes on fossil fuels including diesel and petrol.

The coal cess forms the corpus for the National Clean Environment Fund, which is used for financing clean energy, technologies, and projects related to it.

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Published with inputs from Pushpendra

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This is 2nd explainer in the series of articles on Paris Climate Talks and the underlying issues.

In this article, we will explore the principles that figure during climate change discussions, which could have serious implications during Paris climate change negotiations.

Since more than 80% GHG emissions present in the atmosphere today have been emitted by the developed countries which underwent Industrial Revolution in last 150 years.

Therefore, UN Framework Convention, 1994 placed the burden of mitigating climate change primarily on these countries.

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What is the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC)

This principle demands a bigger response from countries that were historically responsible for the problem, and which were also more capable of responding effectively.

Most of the rich and technologically advanced countries of the west fitted both criteria.

The Convention divided the world in two clear groups:

Annexure I countries: It was a group of 37 countries, who were required to take mandatory emission cuts.

Non-Annex countries: It comprises the rest of the world, who could take other measures to deal with climate change, like adaptation, but were not required to mandatorily reduce their emissions.

Where does the problem lie?

CBDR is at the heart of the Kyoto Protocol, the existing global arrangement for fighting climate change that came into being at CoP-3 in Kyoto, and gave quantified emission cut targets to every Annex-I country.

However, owing to persistent efforts of the rich and developed world, CBDR has been steadily diluted, and the clear-cut bifurcation of the world between Annex-I and non-Annex countries has slowly eroded.

What is the principle of Loss and Damage ?

It essentially tries to capture the inability of communities/countries to cope with the effects of global warming.

At the Conference of Parties (COP19) of the UNFCCC, held in Warsaw in 2013, all parties agreed to set up a new mechanism on L&D.

Loss: It generally refers to the complete forfeiture of items like land, ecosystems, or of human lives. The term includes both economic and non-economic losses.

Damage: It refers to the harm to infrastructure and property that could be repaired.

What makes Loss and Damage important and different from other mechanism?

It is important because even after GHG emissions are reduced and communities adapt to climate change, there would still be loss and damage to people, livelihoods and infrastructure as a result of their inability to cope with climate change.

This is distinct from mitigation, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation, or finding ways to live in a warmer world.

How L&D will figure in Paris Climate Conference?

The implementation of L&D principle would mean that Annex 1 countries would pay liability and compensation, as they are responsible for bulk of emissions.

Recently, the Like Minded Developing Countries held a meeting in Delhi for the issues to be discussed in Paris COP and they have included Loss & Damage in their agenda.

Published with inputs from Pushpendra

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We are going to publish a series of articles on Paris Climate Talks and the underlying issues.

In this article, we will explore what is the ‘conference of parties’, and why we will hear more about it as the year-end approaches. We will also understand the how planet’s future could hinge on a deal in Paris.

What is the CoP-21 and its origin?

• The annual meeting is called CoP, or Conference of Parties, ‘parties’ being a reference to the 196 signatories to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), that came into force in 1994.
• The Paris meeting is the 21st meeting of the CoP, and hence it is being called CoP-21.

Lets understand the objective of COP-21 

• To deliver an agreement that will facilitate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the only way to mitigate climate change.

What are the options to achieve this objective

• Move to processes that do not release carbon dioxide, or minimises their emission. In terms of energy, sources like solar, wind or nuclear.
• Make use of better technology to make industrial processes more efficient, and lower carbon emissions.
  

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What is the quantum of emissions to be cut?

• The purpose is to restrict the global surface temperature within 2-degree Celsius as compared to pre-industrial times.
• The 2-degree target is a certain maximum amount of carbon dioxide that can be left accumulated in the atmosphere, often referred to as carbon budget.
• Scientists argue that at the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions, the budget would be exhausted in the next 25 years.

Why is it difficult to cut this quantum of emissions?

• Almost every human/industrial activity involves the use of energy which is produced primarily by burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, etc; all of which have high carbon content.
• Cutting emissions will mean slowing these activities and, thus, economic development.

There is more serious impact on developed countries

The emission cuts for richer and developed countries would mean

• Altering their lifestyles
• Giving up big private vehicles to embrace public transport
• Reducing consumption <This would have impact on countries whose economy is based on consumption>

Published with inputs from Pushpendra