COP27: Non-state actors can’t destroy the environment, yet claim to be net zero, says report

Subject: Environment

Context-

Non-state actors investing in new fossil fuel supply or engaging in deforestation and other environmentally destructive activities cannot claim to be net zero, according to a new report launched November 8, 2022, at Sharm El-Sheikh.

About the report-

The document titled Integrity Matters: Net Zero Commitments By Businesses, Financial Institutions, Cities and Regions.
The document, launched by a High-level Expert Group at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, lists 10 recommendations for non-state actors.
These non-state actors include businesses, financial institutions, cities and regions.
The recommendations can help bring integrity, transparency and accountability to such actors’ net zero ambitions.
UNSC established the High-level Expert Group at COP26 in Glasgow to address credibility issues with net zero pledges and commitments from these entities.
The report called for a task force on net zero regulations on the net zero path.

Non-State actors-

A non-state actor (NSA) are organizations and/or individuals that are not affiliated with, directed by, or funded by any government.
The interests, structure, and influence of NSAs vary widely.
For example, among NSAs are non-profit organizations, labor unions, non-governmental organizations, banks, corporations, media organizations, business magnates, people’s liberation movements, lobby groups, religious groups, aid agencies, and violent non-state actors such as paramilitary forces.

The role played by Non-state actors-

The non-state actors have a crucial role in keeping the net zero goal alive.
They will either help scale the ambition and action we need to ensure a sustainable planet, or else they strongly increase the likelihood of failure.
The path towards net zero by non-state actors should align with science.
The recommendations listed in the report also apply to smaller non-state actors as they have an important role to play.
These actors need support and assistance to follow the listed recommendations.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) provide 50 per cent of employment.
It is risky if SMEs do not have the financing and technical ability to reduce emissions
It is also critical to include a just transition plan in the path towards net zero.

A few recommendations to the Non-state actors are-

Non-state actors must also make their progress public with verified information.
This should be compared with other counterparts to ensure that climate accounting is honest and transparent.
Non-state actors purchasing cheap credits rather than immediately cutting their own emissions across their value chain is a red flag.
By 2025, businesses, financial institutions, cities and regions must ensure that their operations and supply chains don’t contribute to deforestation, peatland loss and the destruction of the remaining natural ecosystems.
Entities should not lobby to undermine ambitious government climate policies directly or through trade associations or other bodies.

What is Net-Zero Target?

It is referred to as carbon neutrality, which does not mean that a country would bring down its emissions to zero.
Rather, it is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by the absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Further, absorption of the emissions can be increased by creating more carbon sinks such as forests.
While the removal of gases from the atmosphere requires futuristic technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
More than 70 countries have promised to become Net Zero by the middle of the century i.e., by 2050.
India has promised to cut its emissions to net zero by 2070 at the conference of parties-26(COP) summit.