India will be a fighter for “climate justice” at the upcoming COP26 summit, seeking to make rich nations pay for measures to ease rising temperatures, the country’s environment minister said Wednesday.

And the world’s third biggest source of greenhouse gases is not yet guaranteeing that it will offer new mitigation efforts at the crucial conference which starts Sunday in Glasgow.

India, along with the world’s leading gas emitter China, is among dozens of countries still to submit fresh plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions so they can become net zero — eliminating as much carbon as they produce.

Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said India would set out what extra efforts it is ready to make “at the appropriate place and the appropriate time.”

India, whose Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be at the summit, said controlling carbon should be the COP26 priority over setting target dates to become net zero.

“It is how much carbon you are going to put in the atmosphere before reaching net zero that is more important,” said R.P. Gupta, the environment ministry’s top permanent official.

According to the ministry’s figures, each Indian produces about 1.9 tonnes of carbon per year, against 7.1 tonnes for the average European Union citizen, 8.4 tonnes for a Chinese and 18 tonnes for the average American.

Yadav said assessing and financing the world’s campaign to limit temperature rises will be one of the most crucial tasks at Glasgow.

“India will fill the role of the voice of developing nations,” Yadav told a small group of journalists on the eve of his departure for the talks.

“India will be a path to a solution with climate justice.”

The country of 1.3 billion people, and one of the world’s fastest growing economies, has long insisted that countries who profited from past industrialisation — Europe and North America — should pay the lion’s share of the climate crisis bill.

Yadav noted the concern of poorer nations that richer ones have failed to live up to promises made at earlier climate summits to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in financial aid and technology.

India has one of the world’s leading solar power programmes, and US climate envoy John Kerry said that the country was “red hot” for solar investment.

But it currently counts on coal for about 70 percent of generated electricity and will have to spend more than $40 billion to dismantle just 14 percent of its oldest and dirtiest coal power stations, according to the Climate Policy Initiative think tank.

Gupta said that without finance for poorer nations “it becomes extremely difficult to have green development at our own cost.”

Source : AFP

• Latest UNEP Emissions Gap Report finds new and updated Nationally Determined Contributions only take 7.5% off predicted 2030 emissions, while 55% is needed to meet the 1.5°C Paris goal
• Latest climate promises for 2030 put the world on track for a temperature rise this century of at least 2.7°C
• Net-zero commitments could shave off another 0.5°C, if these pledges were made robust and if 2030 promises were made consistent with the net-zero commitments

Nairobi, 26 October 2021 – New and updated climate commitments fall far short of what is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, leaving the world on track for a global temperature rise of at least 2.7°C this century, according to the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) latest Emissions Gap Report 2021: The Heat Is On.

The report, now in its 12^th year, finds that countries’ updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – and other commitments made for 2030 but not yet submitted in an updated NDC – only take an additional 7.5 per cent off predicted annual greenhouse gas emissions in 2030, compared to the previous round of commitments. Reductions of 30 per cent are needed to stay on the least-cost pathway for 2°C and 55 per cent for 1.5°C.

Released ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), the latest round of climate talks taking place in Glasgow, the report finds that net-zero pledges could make a big difference. If fully implemented, these pledges could bring the predicted global temperature rise to 2.2°C, providing hope that further action could still head off the most-catastrophic impacts of climate change. However, net-zero pledges are still vague, incomplete in many cases, and inconsistent with most 2030 NDCs.

“Climate change is no longer a future problem. It is a now problem,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “To stand a chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, we have eight years to almost halve greenhouse gas emissions: eight years to make the plans, put in place the policies, implement them and ultimately deliver the cuts. The clock is ticking loudly.”

As of 30 September 2021, 120 countries, representing just over half of global greenhouse gas emissions, had communicated new or updated NDCs. In addition, three G20 members have announced other new mitigation pledges for 2030.

To have any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, the world has eight years to take an additional 28 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent (GtCO₂e) off annual emissions, over and above what is promised in the updated NDCs and other 2030 commitments. To put this number into perspective, carbon dioxide emissions alone are expected to reach 33 gigatonnes in 2021. When all other greenhouse gases are taken into account, annual emissions are close to 60 GtCO₂e. So, to have a chance of reaching the 1.5°C target, we need to almost halve greenhouse gas emissions. For the 2°C target, the additional need is lower: a drop in annual emissions of 13 GtCO₂e by 2030.

Alok Sharma, incoming COP26 President, said the report underlined why countries need to show ambitious climate action at COP26: “As this report makes clear, if countries deliver on their 2030 NDCs and net zero commitments which have been announced by the end of September, we will be heading towards average global temperature rises of just above 2C. Complementary analyses suggest that the commitments made in Paris would have capped the rise in temperature to below 4°C.

“So there has been progress, but not enough,” he added.” That is why we especially need the biggest emitters, the G20 nations, to come forward with stronger commitments to 2030 if we are to keep 1.5c in reach over this critical decade.”

Zeroing in on net-zero

Net-zero pledges – and their effective execution – could make a big difference, the authors find, but current plans are vague and not reflected in NDCs. A total of 49 countries plus the EU have pledged a net-zero target. This covers over half of global domestic greenhouse gas emissions, over half of GDP and a third of the global population. Eleven targets are enshrined in law, covering 12 per cent of global emissions.

If made robust and implemented fully, net-zero targets could shave an extra 0.5°C off global warming, bringing the predicted temperature rise down to 2.2°C. However, many of the national climate plans delay action until after 2030, raising doubts over whether net-zero pledges can be delivered. Twelve G20 members have pledged a net-zero target, but they are still highly ambiguous. Action also needs to be frontloaded to make it in line with 2030 goals.

“The world has to wake up to the imminent peril we face as a species,” Andersen added. “Nations need to put in place the policies to meet their new commitments, and start implementing them within months. They need to make their net-zero pledges more concrete, ensuring these commitments are included in NDCs, and action brought forward. They then need to get the policies in place to back this raised ambition and, again, start implementing them urgently.

“It is also essential to deliver financial and technological support to developing nations – so that they can both adapt to the impacts of climate change already here and set out on a low-emissions growth path.”

The potential of methane and market mechanisms

Every year, the Emissions Gap Report looks at the potential of specific sectors. This year, it focuses on methane and market mechanisms. Reduction of methane emissions from the fossil fuel, waste and agriculture sectors can contribute to closing the emissions gap and reduce warming in the short term.

Methane emissions are the second largest contributor to global warming. The gas has a global warming potential over 80 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year horizon; it also has a shorter lifetime in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide – only twelve years, compared to up to hundreds for CO₂ – so cuts to methane will limit temperature increase faster than cuts to carbon dioxide.

Available no- or low-cost technical measures alone could reduce anthropogenic methane emissions by around 20 per cent per year. Implementation of all measures, along with broader structural and behavioural measures, could reduce anthropogenic methane emissions by approximately 45 per cent.

Carbon markets, meanwhile, have the potential to reduce costs and thereby encourage more ambitious reduction pledges, but only if rules are clearly defined, are designed to ensure that transactions reflect actual reductions in emissions, and are supported by arrangements to track progress and provide transparency.

Revenues earned through these markets could fund mitigation and adaptation solutions domestically and in vulnerable nations where the burdens of climate change are greatest.

COVID-19 recovery opportunity largely missed

Finally, the report finds that the opportunity to use COVID-19 fiscal rescue and recovery spending to stimulate the economy while backing climate action has been missed in most countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a drop in global CO₂ emissions of 5.4 per cent in 2020. However, CO₂ and non-CO₂ emissions in 2021 are expected to rise again to a level only slightly lower than the record high in 2019.

Only around 20 per cent of total recovery investments up to May 2021 are likely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Of this spending, almost 90 per cent is accounted for by six G20 members and one permanent guest.

COVID-19 spending has been far lower in low-income economies (USD 60 per person) than advanced economies (USD 11,800 per person). Gaps in finance are likely to exacerbate gaps in vulnerable nations on climate resilience and mitigation measures.

About the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

Nairobi, 21 October 2021 – A drastic reduction in unnecessary, avoidable and problematic plastic is crucial to addressing the global pollution crisis, according to a comprehensive assessment released today by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). An accelerated transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies, the removal of subsidies and a shift towards circular approaches will help reduce plastic waste at the needed scale.

From Pollution to Solution: a global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution shows that there is a growing threat in all ecosystems from source to sea. It also shows that while we have the know-how, we need the political will and urgent action by government to tackle the mounting crisis. The report will inform discussions at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) in 2022, where countries will come together to decide a way forward for global cooperation.

Plastic pollution leakage into aquatic ecosystems has grown sharply in recent years and is projected to more than double by 2030, with dire consequences for human health, the global economy, biodiversity and the climate.

The assessment, released 10 days ahead of the COP26, emphasizes that plastics are a climate problem as well: Using a life cycle analysis, 2015 greenhouse gas emissions from plastics were 1.7 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e), and are projected to increase to approximately 6.5 GtCO2e by 2050, or 15 per cent of the global carbon budget.​​

The authors pour cold water on the chances of recycling our way out of the plastic pollution crisis. They warn against damaging alternatives to single-use and other plastic products, such as bio-based or biodegradable plastics, which currently pose a chemical threat similar to conventional plastics.

The report looks at critical market failures, such as the low price of virgin fossil fuel feedstocks compared to recycled materials, disjointed efforts in informal and formal plastic waste management, and the lack of consensus on global solutions.

“This assessment provides the strongest scientific argument to date for the urgency to act, and for collective action to protect and restore our oceans from source to sea,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “A major concern is the fate of breakdown products, such as microplastics and chemical additives, many of which are known to be toxic, and hazardous to both human and wildlife health, and ecosystems. The speed at which ocean plastic pollution is capturing public attention is encouraging. It is vital that we use this momentum to focus on the opportunities for a clean, healthy and resilient ocean.”

The report highlights that plastic accounts for 85 per cent of marine litter and warns that by 2040, volumes of plastic pollution flowing into marine areas will nearly triple, adding 23-37 million metric tons of plastic waste into the ocean per year. This means about 50kg of plastic per meterof coastline worldwide.

Consequently, all marine life – from plankton and shellfish to birds, turtles and mammals – faces the grave risk of toxification, behavioral disorder, starvation and suffocation. Corals, mangroves and seagrass beds are also smothered by plastic waste preventing them from receiving oxygen and light.

The human body is similarly vulnerable on multiple fronts to plastic pollution in water sources, which could cause hormonal changes, developmental disorders, reproductive abnormalities and cancer. Plastics are ingested through seafood, drinks and even common salt; they penetrate the skin and are inhaled when suspended in the air.

Marine litter and plastic pollution also significantly affect the global economy. The economic costs of marine plastic pollution with respect to its impacts on tourism, fisheries and aquaculture, together with other costs such as those of clean-ups, were estimated to be at least USD 6-19 billion globally in 2018. It is projected that by 2040 there could be a USD 100 billion annual financial risk for businesses if governments require them to cover waste management costs at expected volumes and recyclability. High levels of plastic waste can also lead to a rise in illegal domestic and international waste disposal.

The assessment calls for the immediate reduction of plastics and encourages a transformation across the whole plastic value chain. Further investments need to be made in far more robust and effective monitoring systems to identify the sources, scale and fate of plastic and the development of a risk framework, which is currently missing on a global level. Ultimately, a shift to circular approaches is necessary, including sustainable consumption and production practices, accelerated development and adoption of alternatives by businesses and increased consumer awareness to enable more responsible choices.

About the Clean Seas Campaign

The United Nations Environment Programme launched the Clean Seas Campaign in 2017 with the goal of galvanizing a global movement to turn the tide on plastic by reducing the use of unnecessary, avoidable and problematic plastics including single-use plastics and phasing out intentionally added microplastics. Since then, 63 countries have pledged to do their part to improve plastics management through, among other measures, reducing the prevalence of single-use plastic products. The campaign will now highlight source to sea issues and solutions and call for urgent global action.

The Campaign contributes to the goals of theGlobal Partnership on Marine Litter and the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment 

About the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.