February 8, 2025

The climate change conference in November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh Egypt received a lot of media attention. Many argue that this is the historic COP because of its success resulting in the creation of the ‘Loss & Damage Fund’, a decade long demand by small island nations and developing countries. as an argument towards environmental justice, and rightly so.

The fund acts as a key tool for promoting climate justice as established and recognized under Article 2 of the Paris Agreement. It can be imagined as a difficult battle won for a long battle.

As someone who has been following the global climate negotiations for several years now, it is very clear that the battle against the climate is far from over. A recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report clearly states that we are not on track to limit global warming to 1.5°C beyond which the impacts disaster is expected. To reach 1.5°C global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions must increase by 2025 and be brought to net-zero by 2050.

In addition, methane emissions, the strongest greenhouse gas, must be reduced by 34% by 2030. Scientific research clearly shows that an excess of 1.5 ° C has catastrophic and irreversible consequences. consequence. This requires a large measure of ambition and action, both of which are missing from the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation plan. At the current rate of emissions, the world will exhaust the remaining “carbon budget” by 2030 and result in a temperature increase of 2.7-3.2°C.

Addressing loss and damage is an important step, however, it does not address the fundamental issue, which is to advance the ambition to reduce emissions.

While the Sharm El Sheikh Implementation plan recognizes the importance and urgency of science-based policy making, it lacks the ambition ie, the speed and scale of climate action commensurate with the urgency of the problem. For example, India’s repeated calls to phase out all fossil fuels (currently only coal), have been opposed by some countries. Only last year in the history of the whole COP that the specific source of energy (coal) was mentioned as being lowered, but, this year the presidency failed to mention the fossil fuel in the formal text. This undercuts the imperative for action needed to ensure a promising future under a 1.5°C world.

Countries around the world need to move beyond their national interests and think at the global level with unity to truly solve the climate crisis. This may require countries to rethink their foreign policy, ensuring that the basic principle of the ‘common but distinct responsibility’ principle is put into practice. Small island nations and developing countries have the most to lose if no mitigation actions are taken, as they will be the most affected. We can continue to argue whether the outcome of the talks can be considered a success, a moderate success or a complete failure. The dust has settled and its time for action. The planet continues to warm even as this article is being written. Meanwhile, the world today has 8 billion people and thousands of species are in decline. Emerging and established technological solutions such as battery storage, green hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, sustainable biofuels, life cycle improvement and material efficiency require R&D investments, policy measures for deployment targeted finance including and especially from the private sector.

There is still a significant opportunity to implement solutions that have been proven effective. For example, sustainable public transport combined with measures to restrict the use of private cars in cities, changes in building codes to reduce energy consumption and support climate-renewable development and the development of absorption and storage of carbon through green spaces, urban forests, wetlands and ponds.

Lifestyle and behavioral changes towards sustainability have great scope to address climate change and improve people’s quality of life. For the Government of India’s campaign on LIFE – Lifestyle for the Environment if strategically targeted at high emitting individuals, organizations and industries can help reduce overall emissions and bring about behavioral change from on the demand and service side. There are actions that can be implemented at relatively low cost but we need a targeted policy and systematic push rather than a piecemeal approach.

Ambitious and effective mitigation requires coordination across government and society. The private sector must take its fair share of the action. Scaling up private climate finance is critical. It is time for all stakeholders to act – towards a better future for the country, and towards the collective goal of a sustainable future for all.

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