Issue of energy equity at COP27

(Mains GS 3 : Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.)

Context:

• The upcoming 27^th Conference of Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Sharm el sheikh, Egypt.

Central question:

• Question of the urgency for climate action has been a central question in the climate change negotiations since the Rio Earth Summit (1992) and will also be at the root of contests at COP27.
• In the run-up to COP26, last year in Glasgow, several developed countries had declared their intention to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. 
• These declarations did not square with the requirements of “keeping 1.5 deg. C alive”. 
• Four-fifths of the global carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5°C (with 50% probability) has already been exhausted and developed countries are responsible for more than half of these historical CO₂ emissions. 

Global energy poverty:

• Developed countries may be unlikely to meet even the inadequate targets they have set at COP 26, keeping to the trend of the last three decades. 
• The rhetoric of COP26 appears unconscionably hypocritical if we consider the reality of global energy inequalities.
• Global energy poverty is concentrated in developing countrieS as in 2021, 733 million people had no access to electricity and almost 2.6 billion people lacked access to clean fuels and technologies. 
• The average per capita energy use of the richest 20 countries is 85 times higher than that of the 20 poorest countries.

Addressing energy inequalities:

• Addressing this stark energy poverty in developing countries is important because there is a strong correlation between energy supply and human development. 
• The average annual per capita electricity consumption of sub-Saharan Africa is 487 kilowatt-hours (kWh), alongside an infant mortality rate of 73 per 1,000 live births; maternal mortality ratio of 534 per 1,00,000 live births, and per capita GDP of $1,645. 
• On the other hand, the OECD group of countries have a per capita electricity consumption of 7,750 kWh, corresponding to an infant mortality rate of seven, maternal mortality ratio of 18, and per capita GDP of $42,098.
• The lack of reliable energy infrastructure in developing countries has compounded the difficulties and has multi-dimensional impacts across developmental indicators.
• In 2022, these inequalities have been aggravated by soaring energy and food prices as several countries face a severe rise in the cost of living and nearly 70 million additional people are estimated to fall below the poverty line of $3.20 per person per day. 
• In this background, COP27 affords a critical moment to acknowledge and address the concerns surrounding energy access and security in developing countries.

Hypocrisy of north:

• Unfortunately, the long-standing problems of the global South have been ignored by developed country governments, academia, and civil society. 
• At a time when the language of energy poverty and security is re-entering the northern vocabulary, it is time to call out the hypocrisy of the advice on fossil fuel use given by the north to some of the world’s poorest regions since the Paris Agreement was signed.
• Thirty years after acknowledging the problem of anthropogenic global warming and committing in the UNFCCC, to take the lead in climate change mitigation, the level of decarbonisation in the global North has been minuscule. 
• These same developed countries argue that green energy constitutes a great business opportunity for developing countries as it has become cheaper. 
• They have used this dubious argument to dismiss differentiation between developed and developing countries and are lobbying for banning the financing of any fossil fuel projects in some of the poorest countries.

Conclusion:

• Developing country's leadership at COP27 can ensure effective discussions, based on equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, on the relative responsibilities and sharing of mitigation and adaptation burdens while coping with loss and damage.