US-China Bilateral Accord on Climate
Change and Clean Energy
Monday, November 17, 2014
7:11 PM
U.S. and China has signed a bilateral accord on climate change and clean
Energy. This accord will have impacts in the run up to the Paris Conference in
December 2015 when the global community is expected to clinch a new
agreement on Global Warming
The Accord
China has publically announced that its emission will peak by 2030
and that it has intention to have the peak year earlier
China will increase the non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around
20 percent by 2030
US will cut its emission by 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by
2025, with an aspiration of an 80 percent reduction by 2050
The two countries will vastly expand cooperation in clean energy,
phasing down of the use of hydro-flouro carbons, carbon capture technology
and climate smart urbanisation
Joint announcement of recognises the special responsibilities that the two
largest emitters have to curb their emissions. US 15 percent, China -29
percent of the total emission of greenhouse gases
Significance for India
Food and Climate Change
Monday, November 17, 2014
7:13 PM
Worlds population is expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050, it poses a serious
challenge that is providing affordable and nutritious food without decimating
the earth natural resources.
Our current food system is dysfunctional both in its impact on people and on
earth.
Today millions do not have enough food to eat, and billion do not lack right
nutrient to be healthy. If we do not change course we will not be able to
meet the challenge
Our current agricultural practise is inefficient, we continue to destroy
tropical forest to clear field for agriculture, which contribute to total
warming of the planet and we waste large amount of food
Climate change is already making people hungry by disrupting crops.
Rising amount of CO2 not only effect the production of crops but also the
nutrients of the crops
Target and vision
Supporting the worlds small farmers so that they are able to grow, sell
and eat more nutritious food
Converting degraded land into productive farms
Climate and development goals must include sustainable food and health nexus
for a healthier and sustainable future
India's Position on Climate Change
Monday, November 17, 2014
7:15 PM
India taken the position for common but differentiated responsibilities, even
though this has merits but the current situation of the climate is that the
developing world cannot be far behind in their contribution to the climate change
mitigation
India and Climate Change
Climate change is an all-encompassing issue that directly touches upon
human development and peoples livelihood
For much of the past decade climate change has shaped and dominated
the international agenda and will increasingly be a game-changer in the
future
In 2010, governments agreed that emissions need to be reduced so that
global temperature increases are limited to below 2 degrees Celsius
For states, climate change fundamentally remains a challenge and a
dilemma. To overcome its natural inclination of being protectionist and to
simultaneously frame stringent adaptation and mitigation policies to keep
global warming below two degrees Celsius is difficult
Kyoto protocol
o
The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty that sets binding
obligations on industrialized countries to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases
o
Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for
the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result
of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a
heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of "common
but differentiated responsibilities."
India and climate change: perceptions and positions
o
India stands by the UN Framework Convention Treaty on Climate
Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
o
This mechanism recognizes the common but differentiated
responsibilities of the countries in the matter of reduction of
greenhouse emissions.
o
At the heart of Indias climate change stand is the argument that it
must be allowed to pollute on a per capita basis equal to the
advanced industrialized countries
Such a position shifts the responsibility on to the shoulders of
the developed countries to drastically cut emissions if the world is
to meet the target of keeping global warming within the generally
agreed safe limit of two degrees Celsius, as determined by the
IPCC
It also allows India the space and time to grow at a sustained
pace and strengthen its poverty alleviation and developmental
programmes
o
The tenets of Indias argument and negotiations on climate change
have consistently remained equity with social justicethe right to
develop and a need-based living
Energy challenges and climate change
o
For a rising economic power like India, the interplay between
energy, environment and development policy is complex and
challenging
o
Indias domestic strategy sets forth an approach towards a lowcarbon economy, principally to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels
without compromising its steady growth rate
o
However, at any reduced level, fossil fuels will remain the dominant
source of energy in any conceivable scenario up to 2030 and in all
probability beyond
o
Indias Integrated Energy Policy, adopted in 2006, is a response to
managing the energy agenda through various measures. Such
measures include
Promoting energy efficiency in all sectors
Need for mass transport
Encouraging renewable sources of energy
Accelerating nuclear and hydro-electric power as clean
energy
Research and development in clean energy technologies
Reforming energy markets to ensure price competition
The Integrated Energy Policy is bolstered by other relevant
legislation, including the New and Renewable Energy Policy (2005), the
Rural Electrification Policy (2006), the National Environment Policy
(2006) and the Environment Impact Assessment (2006)
o
Increasing the installed power capacity to 800 GW by 2030, along
with the corresponding expansion of the energy infrastructure, would
come at a huge cost.
o
For India, finance for development is crucial and, therefore, it needs
to be positively engaged in the multilateral forum
o
## There were talks about the technology transfer to developing
countries to help them reduce their carbon emission, so engaging in
multilateral forum will help India access these technologies [ Ref
UNFCCC ministerial summit NOV-2013]
o
The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), released by
the Prime Minister in June 2008, is a plan of action and sets out key
initiatives on energy and climate connect
Indias vulnerability to climate change
o
Glacier melt in the Himalayas projected to increase flooding and
then followed by decreased river flows as the glaciers recede.
o
Freshwater availability, particularly in large river basins, projected
to decrease, which along with population growth and increasing
demand could adversely affect more than 1,000m people by 2050.
o
Coastal areas, especially heavily populated mega-delta regions, will
be vulnerable to increased flooding from the sea and rivers.
o
Crop yields could decrease by up to 30% in South Asia by the
middle of the 21st century, with the risk of hunger projected to be very
high.
Emissions rights cannot be situated outside the framework of equitable
human development. Indias argument on emissions rights is valuable to the
extent of being allowed the space and time to develop, but it cannot be an
excuse for not taking effective action to curb the dangers of climate change
It is unlikely that India and China will be exempted from the CO2 emissions
reduction requirements in future
India needs to balance its stance on external climate change negotiations
with its internal action plan
o
UNFCC and COP etc.
Monday, November 17, 2014
7:17 PM
Green Climate Fund
At COP 16, Parties established a Green Climate Fund (GCF) as an operating entity
of the financial mechanism of the Convention under Article 11. The GCF will
support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing country
Parties. The Fund will be governed by the GCF Board.
NCERT Geography
Monday, November 17, 2014
7:18 PM
Climate Change
Causes of Climate Change They can be grouped into astronomical and
terrestrial causes
o
Astronomical causes
The astronomical causes are the changes in solar output
associated with sunspot activities. Sunspots are dark and cooler
patches on the sun which increase and decrease in a cyclical
manner
When the number of sunspots increase, cooler and wetter
weather and greater storminess occur. A decrease in sunspot
numbers is associated with warm and drier conditions.
An another astronomical theory is Millankovitch oscillations,
which infer cycles in the variations in the earths orbital
characteristics around the sun, the wobbling of the earth and the
changes in the earths axial tilt. All these alter the amount of
insolation received from the sun, which in turn, might have a
bearing on the climate.
o
Terrestrial causes
Volcanism is considered as another cause for climate change.
Volcanic eruption throws up lots of aerosols into the atmosphere.
These aerosols remain in the atmosphere for a considerable period
of time reducing the suns radiation reaching the Earths surface
Anthropogenic effect - The most important anthropogenic
effect on the climate is the increasing trend in the concentration of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which is likely to cause
global warming
Greenhouse Effect and greenhouse gases
o
The term greenhouse is derived from the analogy to a greenhouse
used in cold areas for preserving heat. A greenhouse is made up of
glass. The glass which is transparent to incoming short wave solar
radiation is opaque to outgoing long wave radiation. The glass,
therefore, allows in more radiation and prevents the long wave
radiation going outside the glass house, causing the temperature inside
the glasshouse structure warmer than outside
o
The primary GHGs of concern today are carbon dioxide ,
Chlorofluorocarbons , methane , nitrous oxide and ozone
o
o
o
o
o
The effectiveness of any given GHG molecule will depend on the
magnitude of the increase in its concentration, its life time in the
atmosphere and the wavelength of radiation that it absorbs
The largest concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere is carbon
dioxide and Forests and oceans are the sinks for the carbon dioxide
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are products of human activity. The
CFCs which drift into the stratosphere destroy the ozone. The depletion
of ozone concentration in the stratosphere is called the ozone hole
International efforts have been initiated for reducing the emission of
GHGs into the atmosphere. The most important one is the Kyoto
protocol proclaimed in 1997
Kyoto protocol bounds the 35 industrialised countries to reduce their
emissions by the year 2012 to 5 per cent less than the levels prevalent
in the year 1990
IPCC Climate change warning
Monday, November 17, 2014
7:18 PM
Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change Report Related to UNFCCC
The world would have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40-70% below
2010 levels by 2050 in order to have a fair chance to keep the rise in the global
temperature below 2 degree Celsius.
The report notes that keeping the emission concentration levels under this limit
would require tripling or even quadrupling of the renewable and other clean
energy production by 2050 compared to 2010 levels
Considering the low ambition the countries have shown to take action in the
short run, the report warns that delaying mitigation through 2030 will increase
the challenges and reduce the options for keeping emissions within the
dangerous levels.
Majority of accumulated GHG emissions so far have originated from the rich
countries that have relatively low population levels but the spurt of economic
growth in emerging economies is increasing current emissions.
At the same time, these developing countries such as India and China are
building up massive new infrastructure where the potential to reduce emissions
exists at lower costs.
To be able to do so, the report says, The financial transfers to ameliorate this
asymmetry could be in the order of hundred billions of USD per year before mid-
century to bring concentration in the range of 450 ppm of Carbon dioxide
equivalent by 2100.
The Cancus pledges correspond to scenarios that explicitly delay mitigation
through 2020 or beyond relative to what would achieve lowest global cost.
Hindus editorial on UNFCC warning
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has given
its starkest warning of the likely impact of climate change. The IPCCs March 31
report, the most comprehensive yet, states that the evidence of global warming
is now overwhelming, and warns that all countries and all social classes of people
will be affected by changes which are likely to be severe, pervasive and
irreversible. All animal species face an increased risk of extinction, and
vegetation patterns are likely to change substantially, with low-latitude species
appearing in higher latitudes and lower latitudes becoming more arid, even if
rainfall patterns there are becoming less predictable. If temperatures rise to 2 C
or more above 20th century levels, yields of major food crops will probably fall;
the likely yield increase in colder climates as those grow warmer may not offset
declining yields elsewhere. Water resources, already under stress in Asia, are
likely to come under even greater stress, and ocean acidification caused by
the absorption of rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide is likely to
compound the problems. The poor in all countries are likely to suffer more than
the rich, but all humanity may well be unable to adapt to temperature rises of
above 2 degrees.
While the report is not apocalyptic in tone, and specifies the level of confidence
with which it states its main findings, one major question arising thence is
whether we can adapt to survive, or whether far more drastic measures are
required. This is especially important in South Asia, where almost one and a half
billion people live. Spreading aridity, or increasingly severe individual events like
storms or droughts, not to mention the disappearance of land as sea levels rise,
could well lead to large-scale migration, which in turn could cause resourcedriven conflict not between countries but between rural and urban populations or
between crop farmers and animal farmers. Existing inequalities are likely to
worsen, which will make it harder for people to climb out of poverty. Yet, on the
evidence the report has received only the briefest of responses, for example
from United States Secretary of State John Kerry, and from the environment
ministers of various European Union countries; moreover, the very possibility
that gradual adaptation may not avert climate catastrophe appears not to figure,
particularly in regions which would be the worst affected, such as South Asia.
That countries states are the only bodies even remotely capable of action
on the scale required hardly needs saying, but the regions at greatest risk have
some of the worlds most dysfunctional states. We cannot say we have not been
warned.
UNFCCC
Monday, November 17, 2014
7:19 PM
Montreal Protocol
Monday, November 17, 2014
7:19 PM