Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/act-now-how-climate-action-in-this-decade-can-prevent-catastrophic-global-warming-later-avantika-goswami.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Act now : How climate action in this decade can prevent catastrophic global warming later -Avantika Goswami | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Act now : How climate action in this decade can prevent catastrophic global warming later -Avantika Goswami

-Down to Earth

There is scientific consensus that rapid and deep cuts to emissions in this decade, and not later, will avoid scenarios of uncontrollable warming and high mitigation costs later this century

Most countries have set a target timeline — 2030 is the commonly chosen horizon — to achieve the goals outlined in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to the Paris Agreement, 2015.

The Paris Agreement is the international treaty to help limit escalating greenhouse gases (GHG) and thereby, rise in global temperature.

However, recent climate discourse has shifted focus to longer horizons such as 2050 and 2060, particularly since the rise in the popularity of concepts such as ‘net zero’ emissions.

Stronger near-term targets for 2030 critical

Inadequate near-term reduction efforts can create a lock-in of the energy system into fossil-intensive infrastructure and reduce its flexibility, as it requires a much more rapid system transformation as well as higher mitigation costs in the long term.

Long-term targets have been announced by over 100 countries, including the United Kingdom, which aims to bring emissions to net zero by 2050; and China, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. While long-term targets can play the role of a “north star” to propel countries’ climate policy, a disproportionate focus on them can slow down the schedules by which countries attempt to cut their emissions.

This lack of urgency hinders the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels and transition to low-carbon economies required to keeping warming under 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius.

Global net carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions need to come down by about 45 per cent below the 2010 level by 2030, reaching net zero by 2050 to limit warming to 1.5°C, according to the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C (SR15) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

But a report by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change report published February 2021 found that updated NDCs submitted by late 2020 would deliver total GHG emissions in 2030 that are just 0.5 per cent lower than in 2010.

The International Energy Agency, in its Net Zero by 2050 report published in May 2021, presented a “1.5°C compatible” pathway to decarbonise the energy sector to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The report emphasised the need to set near-term milestones to get on track for long-term targets. It pinpoints the cause for the gap between country pledges and real action: the fact that few net-zero targets are supported by detailed near-term policy packages that would drive immediate action.

Please click here to read more.