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The two-week (Nov. 30- Dec. 13, 2023) the Dubai COP28 (Conference of Parties) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ended with a lukewarm deal to “transitioning away from fossil fuels.”
It could be the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel. No miracles were expected at COP28. The feisty United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres made it a point to chastise the State Parties to accept the inevitable roadmap for attaining the illusive goal of 1.5 degree Celsius. “To those who opposed a clear reference to a phaseout of fossil fuels in the COP28 text, I want to say that a fossil fuel phase out is inevitable whether they like it or not”, said the UNSG.
On November 25, in a very powerful message from Antarctica, the UNSG had said: “What happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica” and the world must wake-up, because the Antarctic is being awoken due to climate chaos”. Similarly, UNEP Emissions Gap Report (November 20, 2023) issued the warning that “the world is heading for a temperature rise far above the Paris Agreement goals unless countries deliver more than they have promised”. It has predicted that by 2030, the GHG emissions must “fall by 28% for the Paris Agreement 2°C pathway and 42% for the 1.5°C pathway”.
COP28 witnessed a lot of pressure on the developed countries. It resulted in operationalization of the “loss and damage fund”, agreed at Sharm El-Shaikh COP27, with a sum of US$ 475 million. Regarded as a drop in the ocean, it comprised contributions mainly from Germany, European Union, UAE and the USA. India has emphatically given a push for implementation of the Global Stock.
In his address on December 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi echoed the concerns of the Global South wherein he called for “urgency of making the means of implementation, particularly climate finance, available to the developing countries to achieve their climate ambitions and implement their NDCs”.
Since the 2022 Stockholm+50 Conference, the UNSG has raised the pitch that regarded climate change as one of the “triple planetary crisis”. In 2023, in his calls from the Everest region in the Himalayas (October 30) and Antarctica (November 25), the UNSG has drawn attention of the world to the frightening scenario of a literally burning planet that called for measures on a war footing. Hence, at COP28, the UNSG said, we cannot now allow “delays, indecision, or half measures” and insisted that “multilateralism remains humanity’s best hope.”
It entails some “real, practical and meaningful climate solutions” to address the planetary climate crisis. It appears, after 31 years (1992-2023) of global climate change regulatory process, there is a fatigue effect. All the major developed countries appear to be dragging their feet in reducing their GHG emissions. It has pushed the task of GHG reduction to large populated countries such as China, Brazil and India. The IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report, released on March 30, 2023, has predicted the grave crisis staring the humankind. It has underscored that “Average annual GHG emissions during 2010–2019 were higher than in any previous decade on record”.
Moreover, the “Global net anthropogenic GHG emissions have…largest share and growth in gross GHG emissions occurring in CO2 from fossil-fuel combustion and industrial processes (CO2-FFI)”. The UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell has said that “genuine strides forward” were made at COP28, but the initiatives announced in Dubai are “a climate action lifeline, not a finish line” since the Global Stocktake – which aims to help nations align their national climate plans with the Paris Agreement.
As the curtains came down on the Dubai COP28, the year 2024 will require dire need to address the key issue of GHG emissions resulting from lifestyles as well as patterns of production, consumption and wastages especially in the developed countries. It calls for fundamental changes in human societies that can be organized in conjunction with governments, businesses, communities, and individuals as well as the new patterns of global multilateralism in international relations and implementation of the solemn commitments made in treaties and decisions of the UN conferencing.
The humankind shall have to swiftly embrace the inevitable end of fossil fuels and transition towards renewable energies and adopt sustainability-oriented practice. The proposed historic shift would entail cutting-edge technologies and innovations such as new modes of energy, transportation and constructions.
In fact, the future lies in embracing the circular economies of reduce, reuse and recycle. It would entail embracing the mantra of sustainable practices in every sphere of human life. We can hope and pray that scholars and scientists in the Indian Universities and research institutions would rise to occasion to provide solution for adopting news ways for living in harmony with nature for our better planetary future.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.