The Hindu Editorial Analysis- 29th October 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

At COP27, Move the Needle on Climate Action 

Why in News?

In September, a study published in the journal Science said earth may have already passed through five dangerous tipping points due to the 1.1°C of global heating caused by humanity to date.

What has the study pointed out?

• A study published in the Science journal has stated that a rise of 1.5°C from pre-industrial levels can trigger multiple climate tipping points.
• Climate tipping points- CTPs are markers of a larger climate system which when triggered beyond a threshold, perpetuate warming on its own.
• Some CTPs triggers include
  • Substantial sea level rise from melting ice sheets
  • Shrinking of Amazon rainforest or corals
  • Warming from carbon release due to melting of permafrost
  • Observations have shown that parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet may have already passed the tipping point.
• Though the 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had stated that a rise of 2°C from pre-industrial levels can trigger the tipping points, even 1°C rise has triggered some unavoidable tipping points.
• As a result, the goal of UN’s Paris Agreement to limit warming at 1.5-2°C will not be able to avoid the disastrous effects of climate change.

Role of Technology in countering Climate Change

• Demand for Transfer of Technology: Calls for developing and transferring technologies to support action on climate change have become louder worldwide.
• Overdependence on Technology: Technology has become a survival strategy for our species, but the degree of techno-determinism that exists in the strategy to reverse climate change is alarming.
• Technology alone is unprepared to deal with the challenge, which requires a societal overhaul and a zero emission strategy.
• History is on the side of technological innovation. Norman Borlaug, for instance, ushered in the Green Revolution, which fed billions of people and increased yields.
• But we may need a few million climate Borlaugs to tackle the problems staring at us.

Technological Optimism in UNFCCC COP 26

• COP26 at Glasgow also fuelled technological optimism. There was an observation that every technological solution discussed at COP26 depends on just three resources:
  • Nelectricity (non-emitting electricity generated by hydropower, renewables or nuclear fission),
  • Carbon capture and Storage (CCS) or
  • Biomass
• Nelectricity: We currently have 4kWh/day of nelectricity per person. But the COP26 plans require 32 (range 16-48).
• Carbon capture and Storage (CCS): We currently have 6kg of CCS per person per year, but the COP26 plans require 3,600 (range 1,400-5,700).
• Biomass: We eat 100kg plant-based food per person each year, but producing enough bio-kerosene to fly at today’s levels requires 200kg of additional harvest.

Associated Concerns with Technological Optimism

• Tech-centric mitigation conversations leave forest economies and subjects such as conservation and forests, which are the best carbon removal instruments, to the ideological fringes of climate conversation.
• The total demand for those resources required by the plans discussed at COP26 cannot be met by 2050.
  • There is no possibility that our supplies of these will be near the levels required by the plans discussed at COP26.

Role Forests in Countering Climate Change

• Forests are home to 80% of terrestrial wildlife. They are at the intersection of the climate change crisis and the biodiversity crisis.
• Hence, forests are best suited to help in countering our fight against climate change.
• Forests absorb a net 7.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 a year. A new study has found that their biophysical aspects have a tendency to cool the earth by an additional 0.5%.
• The conservation of forests, along with other nature-based solutions, can provide up to 37% of the emissions reductions needed to tackle climate change.
• The Dasgupta Review-Independent Review on the Economics of Biodiversity reports that green infrastructure (salt marshes and mangroves) are 2-5 times cheaper than grey infrastructure (breakwaters).
• Another study estimated that the annual gross carbon emissions from tropical tree cover loss between 2015 and 2017 was equivalent to 4.8 billion tonnes.
• This causes more emissions each year than 85 million cars do in their lifetime.
• In 2019, approximately 34% of total net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions came from the energy supply sector, 24% from industry, 22% from agriculture, forestry and other land use, 15% from transport and 6% from buildings.

Way Forward

• The IPCC Land Report estimates that land serves as a large CO2 sink.
• There is a growing body of evidence that a large proportion of the required removals could be achieved by conserving natural sinks, improving biodiversity protection, and restoring ecosystems.
• Preserving earth’s cyclical processes by protecting terrestrial ecosystems and natural sinks and transformative agricultural practices under the leadership of indigenous people.
• Local communities is a far more equitable and cost-effective way of tackling the climate crisis than it is being done now.