Developed countries to overshoot carbon emissions goal: study

Subject : Environment

Section: Climate Change

Context:

Developed countries will end up emitting 38% more carbon in 2030 than they have committed to, going by current trajectories, and 83% of this overshoot will be caused by the United States, Russia, and the European Union, according to a study by the Council for Energy Environment and Water (CEEW), a Delhi-based think tank.

Details:

Developed countries are responsible for three-fourths of existing carbon emissions in the atmosphere.
Countries are expected to give an account of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) at UNFCCCCoP28 (Dubai, UAE), which are their commitments to the UN on emission cuts.

Study findings:

The NDCs of developed countries already fall short of the global average reduction of emissions to 43% below 2019 levels. Developed countries’ collective NDCs only amount to a 36% cut.
These cuts are not the result of a planned exercise, but a significant chunk of the cuts were the result of the COVID-19 pandemic that caused a global economic slowdown.
Collectively, developed countries were to reduce emissions by 5% from their 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012, and by 18% per cent during 2013 to 2020.

Postponing needed cuts:

Several countries have committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Doing so would require steady measurable cuts every decade until that year.
To keep temperatures below 1.5°C,developed countries need to cut emissions to 43% below their 2019 level.
The CEEW study found that, based on their current emissions trajectories, their cuts would likely amount to only 11% by 2030.
Except for two countries– Belarus and Norway– none of the developed countries seem to be on the path to meet their 2030 targets, though Japan and Kazakhstan are expected to miss their targets by only a single percentage point.
If all developed countries would have to reach net zero by 2050, they would require more than four times the average annual reductions they achieved between 1990 and 2020.

Shifting the burden:

The burden to mitigate global warming shifts to developing countries, which is problematic because of the financial burden.
Developing countries say that developed countries, who are responsible for most of the carbon burden, must pay developing countries for transitioning and wean themselves away faster.
Developed countries argue that countries such as India and China, given their size, cannot entirely absolve themselves from steeper emission cuts.
Developing countries have also not received$100 billion/year promised by developed countries to aid renewable-energy infrastructure.

Council for Energy Environment and Water (CEEW)

Founded in 2010
It is a Not-For profit Think Tank and policy institution based in New Delhi, India.
It was formed to provide independent research-based insights to policymakers for building a sustainable India.
The think-tank advises the Indian government.

Source: TH