Shankar IAS Test: Climate Change - UPSC MCQ

India announced its intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) which set ambitious targets for domestic efforts against climate change. Including other efforts, the country has set itself an ambitious target of reducing the emissions intensity of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 33-35 percent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, and of achieving 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.

The energy sector is the largest contributor to GHG emissions and, within this, CO₂ emissions from the combustion of fuels have the largest share.

Among USA, EU, China are considered, the USA has the highest per capita CO₂ emissions and per capita income while India has the lowest of both among them.

The Agreement is not mitigation-centric. The Agreement mandates that developed countries provide financial resources to developing countries. Other Parties may also contribute, but on a purely voluntary basis. The Agreement includes a robust transparency framework for both action and support. The Paris Agreement establishes a compliance mechanism, overseen by a committee of experts that operates in a non-punitive way, and is facilitative in nature.

The Paris Agreement operationalizes differentiation between developed and developing countries mitigation actions through three main elements, namely, (a) by acknowledging that peaking of emission in developing countries will take longer; (b) by calling upon developed countries to take the lead in mitigation actions; and (c) by calling upon support to be provided to developing countries for the implementation of climate change actions, elements, namely, (a) by acknowledging that peaking of emission in developing countries will take longer; (b) by calling upon developed countries to take the lead in mitigation actions; and (c) by calling upon support to be provided to developing countries for the implementation of climate change actions.

The Rio+20 document clearly states what green economy policies should result in and what they should not. While there is no universal definition of green finance, it mostly refers to financial investments flowing towards sustainable development projects and initiatives that encourage the development of a more sustainable economy (Höhne et al. 2012). Green finance includes different elements like greening the banking system, the bond market, and institutional investment.

India has created a corpus called the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) in 2010-11 out of the cess on coal produced/imported (‘polluter pays’ principle) for the purpose of financing and promoting clean energy initiatives and funding research in the area of clean energy. Some of the projects financed by this fund include innovative schemes like a green energy corridor for boosting the transmission sector, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission’s (JNNSM) installation of solar photovoltaic (SPV) lights and small capacity lights, installation of SPV water pumping systems, SPV power plants, grid-connected rooftop SPV power plants and a pilot project to assess wind power potential.

To reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent of the 2005 level by 2030. To achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030 with the help of transfer of technology and low-cost international finance including from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂eq.) through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the largest, The second largest is the Clean Technology Fund (CTF). The GCF was established as an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC in 2011. In 1992, when the Biodiversity and Climate Change Conventions were adopted at Rio de Janeiro, the GEF was adopted as a financial mechanism for helping developing countries meet their financing needs for achieving their climate change goals.

The major regional emissions-trading scheme currently under implementation in the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS). The EU ETS covers 28 EU countries as well as Iceland,  Liechtenstein, and Norway. As of 4 January 2016, 1593 out of a total of 7685 projects registered by the CDM executive board are from India, which so far is the second-highest in the world with China taking the lead with 3764 projects registered. About 90-95 percent of the CDM projects are being developed by the private sector.