COP27: India thwarts attempt to club it with historical polluters
Developing nations in the top 20 emitters, including India, are not responsible for the warming that has already occurred. However, during the talks, the developed countries sought that instead of those historically responsible for climate change, all top 20 emitters, including China and India, should discuss intense emission cuts.
FollowAn attempt by rich nations to shift responsibility on all top 20 emitters of carbon dioxide during discussions on the 'Mitigation Work Programme' at the ongoing UN climate summit in Egypt was blocked by India, sources said on Monday, adding that other developing countries supported the country.
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Developing nations in the top 20 emitters, including India, are not responsible for the warming that has already occurred. However, during the talks, the developed countries sought that instead of those historically responsible for climate change, all top 20 emitters, including China and India, should discuss intense emission cuts.
According to the sources, India thwarted the attempt with support from other developing countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.
India and other developing countries reportedly said that the 'Mitigation Work Programme' should not lead to the reopening of the Paris Agreement, which clearly mentions that nations' climate commitments have to be nationally determined based on circumstances.
Parties had acknowledged at the COP26 in Glasgow last year that to limit average global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a 45 per cent reduction in global CO2 emissions by 2030 (as compared to 2010 levels) was required.
Accordingly, there was consensus on developing a Mitigation Work Programme to 'urgently scale up mitigation (reducing emissions), ambition (setting stronger targets) and implementation (meeting new and existing goals)'.
At COP27, developing countries expressed concerns that rich nations, through the Mitigation Work Programme, would push them to revise their climate targets without enhancing the supply of technology and finance.
In the run-up to COP27, India had made it clear that the Mitigation Work Programme cannot be allowed to 'change the Paris Agreement goalposts'. The Indian government had said that the best practices, new technologies, and newer modes of collaboration for technology transfer and capacity building might be discussed fruitfully in the Mitigation Work Programme.
A Carbon Brief analysis shows the United States is responsible for the largest share of historical emissions, with some 20 per cent of the global total, releasing more than 509GtCO2 since 1850. India (3.4 per cent) comes in a distant seventh place after China (11 per cent) and Russia (7 per cent).
The Carbon Dioxide spewed into the Earth's atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution is closely linked to the increase in the global surface temperature by around 1.15 degrees Celsius. Significant damage was already caused before 1990 when economies like India started developing.
According to "Global Carbon Budget Report 2022", three places -- China (31 pc), the United States (14 pc), and the European Union (8 pc) -- contributed to over half of the world's CO2 emissions in 2021. India (fourth) contributed 7 per cent of the global CO2 emissions.
However, the United Nations Environment Programme last month noted that India's per capita greenhouse gas emissions (2.4-tonne carbon dioxide equivalent) are far below the world average of 6.3 tCO2e.
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With PTI inputs
