Posted on: Post Date – 12:31 AM, Sat – 11/19/22
The signal from the global climate summit in Egypt was rather disappointing. Countries continue to debate strategies to tackle the climate crisis. After two weeks of tense negotiations among 190 countries at the 27th United Nations climate summit (COP27), the United Nations presented a first draft of a climate agreement that fell short of expectations.
First, it ignores India’s proposal to “phasically reduce all fossil fuels”, although it has the support of the European Union and others. There were no details of a loss and damage fund for the most climate-vulnerable countries. While there are some changes to the draft agreement before the summit ends, there doesn’t appear to be any hope of a major breakthrough.
The draft mentions doubling adaptation funding to $40bn a year by 2025, but it does little to force rich countries to increase support and align their financial flows with the envisaged goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius in the Paris Agreement. Instead, it just “urged” them to meet their long-promised $100 billion a year target from 2020 and address shortfalls. Rich countries, including the United States, have opposed the creation of a new loss and damage fund to support developing countries ravaged by climate change. They must accelerate the transfer of the technology and finance needed to tackle climate change.
India’s position in this regard is based on the generally accepted premise that in the world industrialized order, Western countries are far ahead of developing countries. And, because the progress of the developed world is largely dependent on fossil fuels, the developed world is largely responsible for global warming and the resulting catastrophe. It owes a carbon debt to developing countries, which are still struggling to meet their development goals while also having to grapple with decarbonization efforts.
Backed by the spirit of the Paris Agreement, India supports the idea of countries doing what suits them according to their national circumstances. Developed countries pledged to provide $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020 nearly 15 years ago, but have never been able to deliver. Clearly, trust is crumbling between North and South, between advanced and emerging economies.
However, this is not the time for finger-pointing and the blame game. Global emissions are at an all-time high — and rising. Climate impacts are destroying economies and societies. Now is the time to act. According to the latest scientific data, without drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures are already 1.1 degrees above pre-industrial levels and are projected to rise by at least 2.3 degrees.
