The ‘climate justice’ at COP 26 

(Mains GS 2 & 3 : Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests & Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.)

Context:

• At least 195 countries are expected to participate in the COP 26 meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)  in Glasgow that is expected to take place from November 1-12.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in a World Leaders Summit to be held next week as part of the COP.

Ensure climate justice:

• The idea of net zero emissions by 2050 is being advocated as a panacea for the evil of climate change but it also undermines the achievement of a climate-just world.
• Climate justice is inscribed in the preamble of the Paris Agreement based on India’s articulation to ensure justice to the vulnerable and poor sections that are worst hit by climate change.
• Thus in the upcoming meeting India should emphasise climate justice and exhort developed countries to transfer the finance and technology necessary to deal with the fallout of global warming.

Climate assistance:

• Climate change presents the single biggest threat to sustainable development and disproportionately burdens the poorest and most vulnerable communities.
• Thus, in the forthcoming COP, the assistance that developing countries such as India need for mitigating carbon emissions, adapting to a warming world and a transparent framework for climate finance must be the points of discussion.

Acknowledged efforts:

• The Indian government introduces climate sensitivity in domestic policies through interventions like energy for all, housing for all, health insurance and crop insurance, coupled with calls for action like the “Clean India” and “give it up” campaigns, popularising yoga and sustainable lifestyle practices.
•  India’s commitment to install 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030 is acknowledged as “ambitious”.
• There was also a similar acknowledgement of India’s electric vehicle policy, its commitment to increase forest cover as well as the national hydrogen policy.
•  These steps by India were in line with achieving the target of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Fractious meeting:

• The 26^th COP is expected to be fractious with many developed countries, led by the United States, to push for a deadline by which all countries agree to cease net carbon dioxide emissions. 
• India is among the major emitters, the third largest in the world, to not have indicated any deadline or even a tentative pathway towards such a “net zero” goal. 
• China and the United States, the other two major polluters, have indicated 2060 and 2050 as potential deadlines for capping their net emissions.

India resists deadline:

• India has on several fora resisted being forced to commit to such a deadline on the grounds that it violates agreed-upon principles of climate justice that require countries to have “differential responsibilities” to addressing the climate crisis.
• The principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC) based on historical responsibility have been the bedrock of climate actions under the UNFCCC ever since 1992.

The COP of action and implementation:

• The “huge expectations” in COP 26 include arriving at a consensus on unresolved issues of the Paris Agreement Rule Book, long-term climate finance, and market-based mechanisms.
•  COP 26 should also be initiating the process of setting the long-term climate finance for the post-2025 period.
• Under the UNFCCC and Montreal protocol along with the more promising Paris agreement, “industrialized nations agree to support climate change activities in developing countries by providing financial support for action on climate change.

Conclusion:

• While many herald the call for net zero by 2050 as a positive signal in avoiding runaway climate breakdown, in reality it delays climate action by developed countries and is being used to evade historical responsibility and transfer burdens to developing countries.
• Thus developing countries must develop the mechanism for climate finance which is trustworthy and provide mitigation and adaptation strategies beneficially for developing or least developed countries.