Small step forward

Developing nations largely left on their own on climate change

The 24th United Nations Summit on Climate Change (COP 24), held at Katowice (Poland), has managed to ensure the operationalisation of the Paris climate agreement from 2020 despite the world’s biggest polluter, the US, walking out of the pact and the unwillingness of developed countries to step up their targets for emission cuts and contributions to the Global Green Fund. However, some key concerns of the developing countries on the common but differentiated responsibilities and access to finance and technology for climate mitigation and adaptation, have remained either unaddressed or left to be decided at the next year’s ministerial meeting. The US administration has, in fact, chosen to issue a formal statement from Washington to affirm that it would not take any “burdens or financial pledges” in support of the Paris climate accord. Several other rich countries, along with major oil-producing and -exporting countries, have strongly opposed any cut in the use of fossil fuels. Poland, the host country which presided over the conference, itself produces nearly 80 per cent of its power from coal. It is, therefore, clear that regardless of a positive deal at Katowice, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are unlikely to abate anytime soon and the process of global heating is set to persist in the foreseeable future.

Surprisingly, the developed countries were unwilling even to accept the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which stated that the failure to achieve the Paris accord’s target of containing global warming to 1.5 degree over the pre-industrial levels would lead to cataclysmic socio-economic consequences. Some of this fallout may be irreversible. Since the Paris accord does not bind countries to fulfil their climate amelioration pledges, it is uncertain whether the outcome of the Katowice meet would suffice to avert the potential damage from global heating. As pointed out in the IPCC report, the earth’s mean temperature has already risen 1 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial era and could surge beyond 1.5 degree by any time between 2030 and 2052. This would result in increased frequency, intensity and amount of heavy precipitation as also severe droughts. Besides, outbreaks of vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue would shoot up, impairing human productivity and escalating poverty. Worse, the burden of global warming would fall disproportionately on the poor, who are incapable of withstanding it and are least responsible for causing this menace.

That said, the fact also is that in the absence of nothing better, the Paris accord is the only hope for mankind and it is good that the Katowice meet has drawn up the rules to ensure its meticulous implementation. The agreed game plan outlines technical guidelines to allow each tonne of GHG released in the atmosphere to be accounted for. This would facilitate effective monitoring of the progress towards hitting the nationally set goals for climate action in a transparent manner. Besides, it can help build trust among nations that all countries are playing their part in addressing the global warming challenge. Though, during the deliberations, most countries favoured a market-based mechanism — such as carbon trading — for speeding up emission reduction efforts, no agreement could be reached on this count. A speedy resolution of this issue is imperative to incentivise private investment in cleaner technologies. The inadequate global response to the climate crisis was articulated eloquently by 15-year-old Greta Thunberg, who confronted delegates at these negotiations, calling on them to "pull the emergency break" to combat this existential crisis. Her words delivered a powerful message; unfortunately, quite a few developed country leaders chose to ignore that.