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- Official version of COP-24: The Global Climate UN – COP24 in Katowice ended in success. Negotiators from 196 countries and the European Union worked for two weeks on the Katowice Climate Package, implementing the Paris Agreement.
- Intense series of meetings: More than a dozen intense meetings enabled negotiations to be successful on different topics regarding principles aimed at implementing the Paris Agreement, which was signed in 2015. For two weeks, a wide range of issues were discussed – some fundamental, others very detailed and technical – which gave birth to a complex and difficult document. Finance, transparency and adaptation are some of its aspects. Critics say that though the 2015 Paris Accord to check emissions has been saved, but double standards remain.
- Putting them in their place: The main achievement of the ministerial perhaps was to put two giant climate deniers, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, in their place. The fact that the Paris Accord ‘rulebook’ has been ratified marks a step forward, even with the US threatening to withdraw from the deal — something it cannot do before 2020.
- A show of resolve? Actually, worries over the impact of climate change have been on the increase, be it hurricanes in the US, floods and cyclones in Tropics and fires in the Arctic. Research suggests that the ambition of the 2015 Paris accord, to be achieved through ‘nationally determined contributions’, may have to be ramped up. To target a 2 degrees Celsius rise in temperatures over pre-industrial levels is not enough, as even such a rise can be considerably devastating, observes the IPCC in its latest observations; the aim should be to restrict the rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In fact, the year 2017 recorded a sharp rise in emissions, not only because of a revival of global growth, but also because a dry year (often an effect of warmer oceans) reduces the capacity of vegetation to absorb carbon dioxide. Global warming can become a self-perpetuating spiral.
- Equity – the biggest issue in global warming: The Greenhouse problem raises many equity issues, including the unfair distribution of the impacts of global warming, the question of which countries should remedy the situation and the distribution of impacts arising from measures taken to reduce greenhouse emissions. Even the elevation of the greenhouse warming problem above other environmental problems has come under criticism for being a manifestation of how the interests of affluent people dominate those of low-income nations. Third-world activists argue that desertification and resulting famines in Africa are neglected issues because they do not impact upon people in high-income countries the way greenhouse warming might.
- What the poor nations think: People in the less industrialised low-income countries do not feel that they should share in the costs of reducing greenhouse emissions when they have played such a minor role in creating them. Ironically, it could be some of the poorest nations that suffer the worst consequences of doing nothing.
- Nothing concrete really: Despite the minor hype, Katowice does not have much to show in concrete terms. There is little indication that funds for dealing with extreme weather events, or for technological innovation are going to flow soon.
- India and China: Concerns have been expressed over how India and China measure their emissions. India is justified in flagging yet again its concern that ‘equity’ is bypassed at such meets. In other words, the Kyoto Protocol principle of the rich countries shouldering a greater burden because of their overwhelming role in the stock of emissions in the atmosphere, even as Asia accounts for two-thirds of the increase in such emissions, is being gradually bypassed.
- Rich world driving a wedge between poor and developing: The post-industrialised world is driving a rift, both at climate and trade talks, between the less developed world and the ‘emerging economies’. While this tendency needs to be checked, it does not help that India flaunts its status as the world’s fastest growing economy — a claim that could obscure both its energy and economic poverty.
- India is trying hard: India, by developing solar capacity and transiting to electric vehicles, is making efforts to reduce the energy intensity of its growth. Energy efficiency in the transportation and construction sectors can be improved. China and India need to clean up their economies, because the costs of global warming are starting to hurt — in terms of calamities, health and loss of labour productivity. The US and the EU are likely to remain tightfisted and averse to meeting their Green Climate Fund commitments. But a crisis throws up opportunities for innovation — even if outside the ambit of global conferences.
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