SDG - Combat On Climate Change


Introduction

            The United Nations in 2015 adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) that it hopes we will achieve by 2030 through the collective action of all countries. The stated goal of SDGs, as envisioned by the UN, is to serve as "the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. SDG 13, in particular, focuses on Climate Action[1].

The global average temperatures in 2017 were 0.9°C higher than the mean of temperatures recorded from 1951 to 1980. The Sea level has been rising at roughly twice the pace of the long-term average. Both of these trends are worrying. As temperatures grow, the agricultural yields suffer, rainfall becomes less predictable, storms become more severe, and freshwater sources become stressed. All of this means that the prices of food will go up. This will affect all of us, but the poor will suffer the most. The same is the case with rising sea levels. Presently, nearly 40% of the world's population lives within 100 kilometres of the coast[2]. Rising sea levels will make many cities inhabitable and displace hundreds of coastal communities, affecting the lives of millions of people around the globe[3].

Over the past few years, we have seen the frequency of severe storms go up around the world. In India, some parts are facing drought-like conditions while floods are inundating other regions. Wildfires have grown more frequent and destroying large swathes of our forests. The Arctic ice has been melting at a faster pace than expected. This is affecting the flow of the jet streams in the northern hemisphere, and bringing cold arctic air further down into the northern hemisphere. All of this has led to an unusually cold winter in many parts of the northern hemisphere[4].

Thus, SDG 13 calls for "urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts by regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy." The goal is to limit the global rise in mean temperatures to less than 1.5°C over the pre-industrial levels. To achieve this, net global CO2 emissions must drop by 45% from their 2010 values by 2030, and reach net zero around 2050. As of April 2019, 185 of the countries that signed the Paris Agreement had ratified it. Climate pledges under The Paris Agreement cover only 1/3rd of the emissions reductions needed to keep the world below 2°C, and most of these countries are expected to miss even these 2030 goals[5].

Targets for India:

●       “Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
●       Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.
●       Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
●       Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilising jointly USD 100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalise the Green Climate Fund through its capitalisation as soon as possible.
●       Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing states, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalised communities.
●       Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change[6]
Climate Change: Indian Context

“India is also the world’s fourth largest energy consumer and the world’s third largest carbon emitter” .

India is at high risk with respect to climate change with a large coastline along with major glaciers serving as sources of various life forms.

The country has already witnessed regular disasters such as cyclones on Odisha's east coast, Jammu & Kashmir flooding, and Central India drought. Disaster heterogeneity includes a range of skills and responses. It is also one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change impacts. After the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties 19 in Warsaw, where all Parties have been invited to  accelerate domestic efforts towards their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC), the Government of India has taken steps to work towards technology, finance, mitigation, adaptation and capacity building.These steps take into consideration not only India's domestic obligations to reduce mass poverty, but also the challenges to access to education and health,food security and nutrition, equality and empowerment of women, sanitation, energy, employment  etc.

“The major step taken by indian government is the establishment of  National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) in 2008.The NAPCC consists of 8 National Missions :
  1. Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
  2. National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
  3. National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
  4. National Water Mission
  5. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
  6. National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem
  7. National Mission for a Green India
  8. National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change”[7]

Initiatives under eight missions”[8] :
●       2970 MW of grid connected solar power generation had been set up in 2014
●       “As of January 2015, 90% of businesses were on track to meet their Perform Achieve Trade (A regulatory tool to minimize specific energy consumption in energy-intensive industries with a related market-based mechanism to improve cost effectiveness by certifying excess energy savings that can be exchanged) goals due to investments in new energy-saving technologies, resulting in oil import savings of around US$ 5 billion and electricity saving equivalent to 5 coal powered power plants” as per NAPCC
●       In 2010 the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) funded a clean energy projects and allocated funds for clean energy research
●        The Government of India launched the Climate Change Adaptation in Rural Areas of India (CCA-RAI) in 2009  which tested adaptation measures, developed state level vulnerability assessments and contributed to human capacity development through training measures aimed at regional and sub-regional levels

“The total finance required for targets: climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation as calculated by NAPCC is INR 263 lakh crores (INR 102 lakh crores for resilience, INR 140 lakh crores for mitigation, and INR 13 lakh crores for adaptation). With the cost of capacity building and institutional mechanisms is approximately INR 4 lakh crores or USD 61 billion (in 2014-15 prices) for 15 years from 2015-30”.

The gap is assumed to be the entire finance required as there is currently no earmarked fund available for this purpose; “the NAPCC and SAPCC documents only indicate finances required and not finances available”.

[9]

Business Implications

SDG 13 directs us towards the implications of Climatic change and how countries and their governments, businesses should ensure that urgent steps to be taken to combat the effects of climate change. SDG13 demands businesses across the world to take the goal seriously and to identify as a risk of high concern.

Strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards follows a
number of costs across various sectors. Costs include adopting sustainable techniques, renewable energy solutions, reducing greenhouse gases and carbon footprint. Business have to do a cost-benefit analysis for adopting and implementing these measures. These costs will vary from sector to sector of Industry and depending upon the type of product and processes existing in the businesses.

Adapting renewable sources of energy comes with the cost of changing the existing energy structure of the organizations and industries which rely on non-renewable sources as a key driver will find these goals difficult to adopt.

Reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases will need businesses to have[10]
1)     Efficient Cost reductions techniques through increased efficiency
2)     Risk management
3)     Good corporate citizenship
4)     Identifying the business opportunities associated with the climate change challenges

Carbon footprint reduction should be done in accordance with SDG13 goal and organizations will do a complete life-cycle analysis from cradle-to-grave to assess the carbon footprint at each stage of its value chain. Carbon accounting calculations will become the guide for business processes and changes need to be done accordingly to adopt sustainable practices. But, these carbon reduction practices will incur new costs for the organizations. Organizations will assess and prioritize their tasks on their financial viability.

Another challenge for integrating climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning requires appropriate training and capacity building of organizations at all
Levels. Incorporating changes in accordance with climate change goals of SDG13 pose challenges to businesses across the world and its implications need to be carefully assessed for any decision- making in the future.

Responses

Businesses play a crucial role in holding the average global temperatures, and in order to achieve the goals set at Paris Agreement it becomes even more pertinent for them to adopt sustainability measures. In recent times with stringent government policies regarding greenhouse emissions, businesses have started to incorporate new technologies to alleviate the intensity of their emissions.

Companies have started taking proactive measures to combat climate change. Marico, headquartered in Mumbai has seen a reduction in the intensity of greenhouse emissions by 54% compared to 2012-13 and 72% of the energy consumed by the company is from a renewable source of energy through its sustainable practices11. This success could be attributed to the fact that Marico has instituted a Business Responsibility Reporting Committee or a Sustainable Committee which assists MD and CEO of the company to adopt sustainability measures in their practices.

Astrazeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical company based out of the UK has witnessed a 21% reduction in carbon footprint since 2010 and it is well on its way to reduce overall carbon intensity by 30% against 2015 baseline12. AstraZeneca captures environmental performance data and sets environmental standards to its suppliers before procuring the resources and has sustainable chemistry principles in their manufacturing process. These are the key drivers for the company to keep a check on their carbon emissions.

Lo’Real has committed to zero deforestation and sources its palm oil derivatives via Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Certification. It also incorporates Global Forest Watch Tool to track the risks of deforestation in its supply chain. The initiatives by taken by companies for sustainable practices would only pick up in coming years with more and more companies modifying their practices and incorporating sustainable practices.

Targets & Agreements

            The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) is an environmental treaty which came into force on  21st March 1994 with the objective of “stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent interference with the climate system”.

            Paris Agreement is within the agreement of UNFCCC dealing with the reduction of greenhouse gases(GHGs). Nearly 196 countries have submitted their National Determined Contributions while 186 of them have pledged carbon reduction targets to prevent the global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees than the pre-industrial levels and to limit it to 1.5 degrees in the long-term which requires reducing GHG emissions by nearly 50%.

            The pledges of most of the commitments by the countries are insufficient to meet the 2030 targets[13] with 75% of the commitments being insufficient to achieve a 50% reduction in GHG emissions[14].

            Regarding the country-wise performance on the commitments, the top contributors of

India which is the 4th largest contributor of Greenhouse emissions is well on it’s way of reaching its commitments by establishing goal of having 40% of its power through renewable by 2030. Its commitment is also compatible with the target of 2 degrees increase in global temperature.But can still reduce by abandoning its new coal-fired power plants.



Way Forward:
If we have a look at the variations at regional levels when it comes to SDG prioritization, we will find that SDG 13 is a number one priority in Europe, Middle East, Africa region and the Asia Pacific region while it is a number two priority in North America and the Latin America region.[14] It shows that SDG 13 is being given the importance, which is its due. We are moving forward on the correct path. However, the pace and sincerity with which we are moving forward will be vital to achieving the final goal.
India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) are in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals in case of SDG 13 when the wordings of the targets, as described in the agreements, are taken into account.India’s NDC includes the mitigation and adaptation aspects of climate action into the broader national policy framework. One of the critical issues is that of the goal of joint mobilization of $100 billion annually by 2020 to cater to the needs of developing countries in the context of substantial mitigation actions and transparency in implementation. The fundraise was committed by the developed countries, which were a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Also, the Green Capital Fund needs to be wholly operationalized through its capitalization on a priority basis. India has maintained its stance on the need for developed countries to work towards raising and providing the required funds. The raising of funds is pivotal to the success in meeting the goals as stated in the SDG, and this is one front that needs to be prioritized.

Authors

1. Arindam Sen
2. K Sai Chandra
3. K Nagadeep Reddy
4. Marichetty Vaibhav
5. Nalamilli Sandeep
6. Suyash Saklecha

Group 8, Section C, PGDM (BM) 2019-21 Batch

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