Post Date: Post Date – 12:30 AM, Thursday – Nov 10
![Editorial: now or forever](https://cdn.telanganatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/logo-thumbnail.png)
The choice is between existence and extinction. This is a “now or never” situation as humanity faces unprecedented climate change impacts. Climate action cannot be delayed any longer, nor can the world continue to bicker over funding and technology transfer. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres summed up in his speech at COP27, the global climate summit being held in Egypt: We are on the highway to climate hell, with our feet on the gas. Greenhouse gas emissions and an uncontrolled rise in global temperatures make climate chaos irreversible. Today more than ever, international cooperation is needed to reverse this trend and avert disaster. One of the important reasons why climate action is currently slow is the reluctance of rich countries to accelerate their transition away from fossil fuels and to provide poorer countries with sufficient capital and technology to combat climate change. Poor nations, mainly from the African continent where the summit is taking place, have repeatedly demanded that rich nations pay for damages caused by the climate-induced disaster. There are growing calls to hold fossil fuel companies accountable and make them pay for the damage they do to the planet. These companies must provide funding to provide financial assistance to vulnerable countries for climate-related losses. The idea of a windfall tax on carbon profits has gained traction among the oil and gas giants’ high incomes as global leaders gather in Sharm el-Sheikh.
A positive development in climate action is the recent publication of the Everyone Early Warning Implementation Action Plan. Developed by the World Meteorological Organization and its partners, the plan calls for new targeted investments of $3.1 billion between 2023 and 2027. Its purpose is to promote climate adaptation and resilience by providing services related to disaster risk knowledge, forecasts and early warning communications anywhere on the planet. Timely alerts are expected to help ill-prepared countries pull together to minimize damage from extreme weather events. The epidemic, which has swept the world for more than two years, has highlighted the importance of international cooperation and coordination. There is a growing realization that no one is safe until everyone is safe. The same spirit should guide cooperative efforts to combat climate change. Green transition is the need of the moment, but such a process should be gradual, fair and just. The biggest polluters must not be allowed to drag their feet on funding. After all, they were the ones who pushed the Earth to the brink. The success of climate negotiations will depend on climate finance in industrialized countries. Ambitious climate targets set by India and other countries can only be achieved with sufficient funding.