The latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ahead of next week's United Nations-sponsored climate summit in New York makes the startling revelation that the emission of environment-inimical gases touched a new peak in 2013. Seldom in the past 30 years has the concentration of carbon dioxide in atmosphere spurted at a pace faster than in the last one year. This reflects the growing apathy of countries towards global warming, also visible in the ebbing of political will regarding commitments made to slash carbon emissions at Copenhagen in 2009. The United States had announced a carbon-reduction target of 17 per cent to be achieved by 2020, from the levels that obtained in 2005; China had pledged a 40 to 45 per cent reduction during this period. India vowed a 20 to 25 per cent cut in carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product (energy intensity).
However, the reality, as revealed by the WMO report, is different. It also seems highly unlikely that the other goal of capping the rise in global temperature to two degrees Celsius can be met in the absence of any strategy to do so. The system of targeted slashing of greenhouse-gas emissions, which was the hallmark of the Kyoto protocol on climate change, was given a go-by with the expiry of that pact in 2012. A legally enforceable successor to this protocol is not yet in sight. The most critical aspect of global-warming policy pertains to energy use. Today, nearly 80 per cent of energy is sourced from fossil fuels. That needs to change - the share of renewables must at least double by 2030. Energy efficiency also needs to improve in appliances, buildings, lighting and vehicles.
India is among the most vulnerable nations to an altered climate. It needs to take this issue far more seriously than it has so far. The fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, like Chinese President Xi Jinping, has chosen to ignore the climate summit in New York in September - to be attended by every other major leader - is unfortunate, and shows a lack of commitment. The summit should work, in particular, towards developing new financing mechanisms, from which India could benefit if it were involved in the negotiations.
True, the National Action Plan on climate change, launched in 2008, is well conceived. But it hasn't been implemented properly. Most of the eight national missions envisaged under this plan are yet to gather momentum. The missions on enhancing energy efficiency, for example, have been moribund. The Green India Mission, which aims to expand forest cover by five million hectares and improving the quality of another five million hectares of forest, had to wait for over a decade to get funding. Meanwhile, the government's new-found enthusiasm for fast-track forest clearances is going to stand in the way of meeting these targets. The solar energy mission, though not inactive, is also lagging. India needs to revisit its overall climate policy and the priority it attaches to it. Otherwise, it will continue to face catastrophes of the kind witnessed in Uttarakhand last year, and Jammu and Kashmir now.
