At COP27, India Foils Attempt To Club Nation With Historical Polluters: Report

Even while India is among the top 20 polluters, it is not to blame for the global warming that has already taken place.

Representational Image.

During deliberations on the "Mitigation Work Programme" at the present UN climate conference in Egypt, India, with the support of other developing nations, thwarted a move by wealthy nations to concentrate on all top 20 carbon dioxide emitters, sources revealed on Monday, news agency PTI reported.

Developed countries demanded during the first week of the climate negotiations that all top 20 polluters, including China and India, debate drastic emission reductions rather than simply the wealthy countries that have traditionally been at fault for climate change.

Even while India is among the top 20 polluters, it is not to blame for the global warming that has already taken place.

The reports claim that India thwarted the plot with the assistance of like-minded emerging nations such as China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan. 

India and other poor nations allegedly stated that the "MWP should not lead to the reopening of the Paris Agreement," which explicitly states that national determinations of countries' climate pledges based on circumstances are required.

Parties agreed at COP26 in Glasgow last year that lowering global CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 (relative to 2010 levels) is necessary to keep the average global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In order to "urgently scale up mitigation ambition and implementation," they decided to create a Mitigation Work Programme (MWP). Mitigation refers to lowering emissions, ambition to setting higher standards, and implementation to achieving both new and old objectives.

As COP27 approached, developing nations expressed concern that wealthy nations would use the MWP to pressure them to change their climate goals without increasing access to technology and funding.

India had stated in the lead-up to COP27 that the MWP cannot be permitted to "change the goal posts" established by the Paris Agreement.

“In the Mitigation Work Programme, best practices, new technologies and new modes of collaboration for technology transfer and capacity building may be discussed fruitfully,” the Union Environment Ministry had said.

According to a study by Carbon Brief, the US has produced more than 509GtCO2 since 1850 and is the country with the biggest historical emission share, accounting for around 20% of the total world emissions. With 11%, China is a relatively distant second, followed by Russia (7 per cent). With 3.4% of the total, India is in seventh position overall.

The increase in CO2 emitted into the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution is strongly related to the 1.15 degree Celsius rise in Earth's average surface temperature from the pre-industrial period (1850–1900). Before 1990, when economies like India began to grow, significant harm had already been done.

According to the "Global Carbon Budget Report 2022," China (31%), the US (14%), and the European Union accounted for more than half of all CO2 emissions in the world in 2021. (8 per cent). India took the fourth place, contributing 7% of the world's CO2 emissions.

According to a report issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) last month, India's per capita greenhouse gas emissions are significantly lower than the global average of 6.3 tCO2e, at 2.4 tCO2e (tonne carbon dioxide equivalent).

The US has much higher per capita emissions than the rest of the world (14 tCO2e), which is followed by Russia (13 tCO2e), China (9.7 tCO2e), Brazil and Indonesia (about 7.5 tCO2e each), and the European Union (7.2 tCO2e).

(With Inputs From PTI)