INDIA- CARBON EMISSIONS

• The Paris Agreement of 2015 required countries to submit a plan demonstrating how the economies can be switched from being reliant on fossil fuels to clean energy sources.
• This was to include measures to be taken to keep temperatures from rising beyond 2⁰C & preferably keep it at 1.5⁰C by the end of the century & becoming carbon neutral/achieving net zero.
• India has committed to being net zero by 2070.
• The deadline to commit was 2020 but the pandemic meant deadlines were extended.
• India is now in a group of about 60 countries, the Paris Agreement has over 190 signatories to have submitted a document to the UN.

• The Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy, underlines India's right to an equitable & fair share of the global carbon budget.
• The remaining budget for a 50% likelihood to limit global warming to 1.5⁰C, 1.7⁰ C & 2⁰ C is 380  GtCO_2, 730 GtCO2 & 1230 GtCO2, according to an analysis by the Global Carbon Project.
• One gigatonne (Gt) of CO2 is a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.
• The journey to net zero is a 5 decade-long one & India's vision is therefore evolutionary & flexible, accommodating new technological development in the global economy.
• India plans to maximise the use of electric vehicles; ensure that by 2025 the percentage of ethanol blended with petrol increases to 20% from the existing 10%.
• India will focus on improving energy efficiency through the perform, achieve & Trade (PAT) scheme, expanding the National Hydrogen Mission, increasing electrification, and enhancing material efficiency & recycling.
• The PAT scheme refers to an emission trading scheme where industries like aluminium, fertilizer, iron & steel that are extremely carbon intensive, have to reduce their emissions by a fixed amount/buy energy-saving certificates from firms that exceeded reduction targets.

• The NDCs are voluntary commitments by countries to reduce emissions by a fixed number relative to a date in the past to achieve the long-term goal of climate agreements of preventing the global temperature from rising beyond 1.5⁰C or 2⁰C by the end of the century.
• India's most updated NDC commits to ensuring that half its electricity is derived from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 & reducing the emissions intensity by 45% below 2005 levels by 2030.
• They are concrete targets, unlike the low-carbon strategy which is qualitative & describes a pathway.

• COP-27 was labelled as an implementation conference, in the sense that countries were determined to solve questions on climate finance.
• This refers to money that developed countries had committed to developing countries to help them turn their economies away from fossil fuels, build infrastructure resilient to climate shocks & access technologies to enable the widespread use of renewable energy.
• Nearly $100 billion annually committed in 2009, which was to have been arranged by 2020, less than a third has come in.
• This has been pointed out by several countries including India, in the form of loans or come with conditions that increase the economic burden on developing countries.
• Another major issue on the question of Loss & Damage (L&D).
• This is a proposal to compensate the most vulnerable countries & developing countries who are facing the burnt of climate change for the damage incurred.
• The European Union was resistant to announcing a fund because it would take years to materialise & there were other options to get money flowing where it was most needed.
• There were indications that they were amenable provided that contributors to the fund include large developing economies which are significant emitters.