Climate cop-out

NEW DELHI: Earlier this week, Union Minister of State for Environment, Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that incidences of extreme weather conditions have increased globally, including in India, in recent decades. He pointed out that there is no established study for India that provides a quantified contribution of climate change triggering natural disasters. These remarks were made at a time when several parts of Tamil Nadu, including drought-prone zones, were being ravaged by unprecedented spells of rain.

The hardships faced by the global south owing to climate change-induced weather extremes was a major talk point at COP28. As the curtains came down on the latest round of climate talks in Dubai, the text of the UAE Consensus called on countries to ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ and towards renewable energy. This formulation had the nod of approval of fossil fuel producers.

Some delegates hailed the consensus as the ‘beginning of the end’ of the fossil fuel era.

Others said the document contained a ‘litany of loopholes’ which did little to advance the actions needed to stave off climate breakdown and deliver justice to islands and low-lying states facing the gravest consequences of the climate crisis.

Western countries have been demanding emerging economies to speed up their transition to alternative fuels even as the global north continues to beef up its fossil fuel infrastructure.

Leaked documents showed how the host of the COP28, the UAE, had planned to use its position to strike fossil fuel business deals with 15 nations in private meetings.

The West has been the greatest contributor to the stock of one trillion tonnes of greenhouse gases since 1890. The US’s share is 19%, followed by the EU and China at 13%, while India’s share is a measly 4%. Even on a per capita basis, richer nations are responsible for a greater quantum of emissions. With 4% of the world’s population, the US has a 11% share of current emissions, which is a ratio of about three to one. China has 18% of the global population, and its emission share is 30%, which is a ratio of less than two to one.

India’s share in the global population is 18%, and our current emission share stands at 7%, which is a ratio of less than one to two.

Thanks to a surge in demand for electricity, India is currently adding 17 gigawatts to its coal-based power generation capacity, which currently makes up for 73% of its energy requirements.

Junking such fossil fuels will be a far cry for us, at least for the immediate foreseeable future.

The world requires in excess of $200 trillion to make the transition away from fossil fuels by the end of 2050. During COP15 held in Copenhagen in 2009, developed nations had pledged a sum of $100 bn every year to help nations in the global south to adapt to climate change.

That remains a pipe dream as not even $1 bn in aid has made it to the deserving nations.

Per estimates, the combined total of $700 million pledged so far by wealthy, high-emitting nations to compensate the poorest and least culpable countries for climate impacts amounts to 0.2% of the annual cost of climate destruction.

COP28 failed to offer a scientifically grounded and equitable blueprint to keep the Paris Agreement’s goal alive and limit global warming to 1.5°C.

In the run-up to COP29 in Azerbaijan, the global south must find other ways to get the first world to recognise the climate mitigation requirements of the world’s most vulnerable regions.