India Ratifies The Paris Climate Agreement

Last Updated on January 20, 2017 by Bharat Saini

Paris Agreement, aims at reducing emission of Green House Gases (GHGs) by 55%, requires at least 55 countries accounting for at least 55 % of global emissions to formally join the treaty. Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reached a landmark agreement to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. India has affirmed its commitment to join the Global Community in reducing GHG emissions by its decision to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change. India’s emissions at 4.1% of GHG is the third-largest. As 61 countries responsible for 47.79 per cent of emissions have already ratified, there is near certainty that the decision made at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in Paris, from November 30 to December 11, 2015, will become operational before the deadline for signatures set for April 2017.

 

Key Points of the Paris Agreement   In December 2015, at the conclusion of COP-21, the Paris Climate Change Agreement was finalised by consensus by most of the UNFCCC participating member states and the EU to reduce emissions as part of the method for reducing Green House Gases (GHGs). Objectives of the Agreement : Holding the rise in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low GHG emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production. Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low Green House Gas emissions and climate-resilient development. Impact : The Paris Agreement was a major breakthrough in UNFCCC negotiations, which for years were slowed by disputes between rich and poor countries over responsibilities of GHG reduction. According to the agreement, countries set their own targets for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other GHGs. Though the targets are not binding, but countries must update it at every five years. The Paris agreement will be effective from 2020, hence the stage is set for all countries to move to a low carbon pathway by adopting a goal of well below 2°C and instituting a regime of financing of developing economies to help make the transition.

India faces a challenging task ahead, as a large number of India’s people are living without access to electricity, it has to generate more energy for poverty eradication while simultaneously curbing GHGs. India will have to equip and upgrade the electricity grid to take in higher volumes of renewable power to realise the national goal submitted to the UNFCCC to install 100 giga watts of Solar Power capacity by 2022.  Steps have to be initiated to curb emissions by bringing necessary legislation and national policy should mandate higher levels of taxes on fossil fuels and transfer the benefits to eco-friendly options, such as solar panels, efficient light bulbs, bicycles, green buses/trains, and greening initiatives.

The Paris Agreement builds upon the convention and for the first time brings all nations into a common cause to undertake take ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.

India’s Ratification of Paris Agreement *  India ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change by depositing the instrument of ratification with the United Nations on the 147th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. A special event was organised to mark the occasion, also observed as the International Day of Non-violence, at the UN headquarters. *  India is the 62nd country to ratify the agreement. *  The agreement will enter into force one month after 55 countries that account for 55 per cent of global emissions ratify the agreement. *  Wit action by India, which accounts for 4.1 per cent of the emissions, the Agreement only needs slightly more than 3 percentage points to reach the 55 per cent threshold. *  At least 14 other countries, representing at least 12 per cent of global emissions, have committed to ratifying the pact before the end of the year. *  Ratifying the agreement, India has said that it will protect the interests and strongly present the viewpoint of the developing countries at the upcoming COP 22 at Marrakech, Morocco. *  The upcoming negotiations at COP 22 are very crucial to advance on key issues.

The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise in this century well below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1·5ºC. Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework. Further information on key aspects of the Agreement can be found here.

The decision to formally join the Paris Agreement will reinforce India’s claim as a leader to combat climate change. It cements the idea of India as a country that surmounts its own development challenges for global collaboration on humanity’s common challenges. India will now have the opportunity to apply its lessons when it negotiates the phase out the use of ozone depleting HFC (Hydro Fluoro Carbons) gases, in Kigali, Rwanda October, 2016 to amend to Montreal Protocol.