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 :
- Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
- National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
- National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
- National Water Mission
- National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
- National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem
- National Mission for a Green India
- 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”.
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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