Group 7_A | SDG 13 : Climate Action

Climate change is the long-term change in earths weather patterns mostly due to human activity. In 1800s, it was an Irish physicist John Tyndall who discovered that carbon dioxide and water vapor absorb heat and emit heat which is basis for the greenhouse effect that causes the overall heating of the atmosphere.

Around the world arrived at the midpoint of temperatures in 2017 were 0.90 degrees Celsius hotter than the 1951 to 1980 mean, as per NASA[1]. 2016 was the third continuous year wherein temperatures were more than 1 degree Celsius above pre industrial revolution levels. To place this into consideration, every-one degree Celsius of temperature increment in worldwide mean temperature is assessed to decrease normal worldwide yields of wheat by 6%, rice yields by 3.2%, and maize yields by 7.4%[2]. When averaged over all the oceanic water bodies, sea levels have increased at a normal pace of 0.06 inches every year from 1880 to 2013[3]. Since 1993, be that as it may, normal ocean level has increased at a pace of 0.11 to 0.14 inches every year—generally twice as quick as the drawn-out pattern[4]. Worldwide outflows of carbon dioxide (CO2) have expanded by practically half since 1990 with emanations expanding more immediately somewhere in the range of 2000 and 2010 than in previous decades.

Without proactive measures, the world's surface temperature is projected to increase over the remaining part of the 21st century and is probably going to outperform 3 degrees Celsius this century – for certain zones of the world expected to warm considerably more[5]. The least fortunate and most weak individuals will be affected in the worst possible way. Environmental change likewise intensifies catastrophes and fighting it is totally indispensable to ensuring our survival as a species and the prosperity of humans in the future.

Key goals of SGD 13

13.1: Strengthen adaptive capacity and resilience to climate related disasters

13.2: Integration of climate change measures into policy making and planning

13.3: Building research, knowledge and capacity to fight climate change

13.A: Implementation of the UN convention framework on climate change

13.B: Promoting mechanisms to raise capacity for planning and management

Relevance of climate change action in India

Policy Front

India was among 10 odd nations to create National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). It was created after the erratic monsoon of 2008. So far, the policy has not fared well but it opened up doors for further action on climate related issues. From 2010 to 2014 the NATIONAL MISSION FOR SUSTAINING HIMALAYAN ECOSYSTEM (NMSHE) & NATIONAL MISSION FOR STRATEGIC KNOWLEDGE ON CLIMATE CHANGE (NMSKCC) were put into place to generate new information and capacity both scientific and technical. It was also aimed to produce a common platform for scientist, policy makers and law makers to contribute their efforts with one mission in mind. But despite the efforts, the research remains unconnected and has not translated into any policy action. Both missions suffer from red-tape, labor and financial constraints. The same was the story for the rest of the eight missions carried out under the NAPCC more or less which are as follows

National Solar Mission (2010);

National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (2009);

National Mission on Sustainable Habitat (2011);

National Water Mission;

National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (2014);

National Mission for a Green India (2014);

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (2010); and

National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.

Following the development of the NAPCC, in 2009, the Government of India asked state governments to mirror this process in their respective states, focusing specifically on developing policies and plans that align with the eight NAPCC missions and the development priorities of each state. The aim was to decentralize the implementation of the eight NAPCC missions beyond the national scale, especially because several of the focus areas of the missions (such as water and agriculture) were state subjects (Dubash & Jogesh, 2014). As of October 2016, 32 states and union territories in India have State Action Plans on Climate Change that have been endorsed by the National Steering Committee on Climate Change (MoEFCC, 2016)[6]. The state plans seem to focus largely on good sustainable development strategies, rather than addressing climate change specifically. They also took the lead from the MoEFCC in focusing largely on adaptation rather than mitigation, integrating their climate change action plans with the overall development goals of the state.

Business Front

National banks and other administrative specialists are presently considering environmental change as a danger to financial strength. This has prompted the foundation of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2015, and the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) in 2017. Both are worried about improving the nature of climate change related mindfulness, risk management and transparency.

In December 2015, the Task Force on Climate Discussion (TCFD) was established by The Financial Stability Board. The primary motive of this move was to provide an impetus to companies to disclose “physical, liability, and transition risks associated with climate change and what constitutes effective financial disclosures” which in turn would be made available to other companies, investors, and the general public to transfer knowledge about the risks related to climate change. The TCFD started aiding companies in disclosures back in 2017 with an aim to encourage sustainable investments which would help in building an economy which is buoyant in the situation of uncertainties pertaining to climate change. This would further help companies assess their risks more strategically by incorporating another pillar and assist the investors to factor in the financial implications due to climate change. A recent development along these lines has been Aditya Birla Group (ABG) joining the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Forest Solution Group (FSG)[13]. This will help other members of the FSG to leverage the vast knowledge of ABG in the pulp and fiber industry in forest related activities. On the other hand, it will provide an opportunity for ABG to translate its leadership into sustained success for the forest sector.

The willingness by organizations to disclose climate-related management activities and greenhouse gas emission has grown. Until now, in excess of 800 organizations have joined to the TCFD, subsequently offering help to improved administration and exposures, albeit so far not many have really conveyed. Revealing of genuine fossil fuel byproducts execution, in any case, has just made some amazing progress. In 2019, nearly 7,000 organizations detailed their outflows to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), twice the same number of as in 2011.[14]

However, improving administration and exposures, and establishing risk assessments and targets won't do the trick. More essential are the real activities organizations embrace to decrease emissions and mitigate risk. This may incorporate reorientation towards sustainable power sources and crude materials, a decrease in their dependence on scant water assets. Taking advantage of opportunities to convey attractive solutions for environmental change is another critical aspect. This may incorporate the advancement of less carbon-intensive goods or of administrations that help individuals and economies support themselves in a world influenced by climate change.

Business Implications:

Bain & Co.: The company is formally certified as a Carbon Neutral company across its global operations and has been recertified in 2020 for the ninth time in a row. The company has already reduced 68 percent of Scope 1 & 2 direct emissions since 2011 [6], it has set a goal to achieve 90 percent reduction in emissions by 2040. The company has reached its carbon-neutral status mainly due to employee-led initiatives across 58 offices from activities involving reducing office waste, increased recycling etc. As an implication of the above-mentioned steps, the company was able to reduce its total emissions footprint per full time equivalent employee by more than 9% in 2019. Bain has also committed to invest $1B towards social initiatives by collaborating with NGO’s on initiatives related to climate change. [7][8]

RPSG: RPSG Group works towards the conservation of natural resources and reduction of greenhouse gases through its Green Buildings Initiatives, winning the award Green Champion from IGBC in 2017.One such example is RPSG House which is rated as LEED Platinum. Phillips Carbon Black Limited, a subsidiary of RPSG takes steps to reduce its carbon footprints, recycle water and solid waste through efficient use of its resources. It aims to align itself with NAPCC and maintaining green environment in line with EHS Policy. PCBL’s management systems are certified by ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 [9]. PCBL’s co-generation power plants utilize the tail gas of the carbon black process to generate power, replacing equal amount of fossil fuel used by the plants. Overall, the plants reduce GHG emissions by the plants also reduce the Greenhouse 3,91,780 MT of CO2 annually. PCBL recycles more than 90% of the solid waste across its facilities. [10]

Amazon: Amazon is committed to building a sustainable business for everyone. In 2019, The Climate Pledge was founded by the company that aims to make Amazon net-zero Carbon across the business segments by the year 2040. As an industry leader, Amazon is working on getting on board more and more companies in this initiative and helping achieve the terms of the Paris Agreement ten years before the target. It has made ambitious commitments to achieve 100% renewable energy and make all shipments net zero emissions by 2030.[11] It is investing $2 Billion to support the development of technologies and services that reduce carbon emissions and help preserve the natural world. In addition to this, it has also invested $100 million in a reforestation project and climate mitigation initiatives.[12]

Legal Implications

Going to the bigger question of 'Eco colonialism'; it is foolish asset misuse, essentially movement of environmentally hazardous materials to underdeveloped nations by Multinational corporations. Thinking about the financial gains, work openings and the expensive and lucrative lobbying available for the ‘netas’ and the ‘babus’, exposure to harmful materials is acknowledged and misguided to be believed as a necessary evil. MNCs need to put resources into innovation in preventive technologies and furthermore impact the ecological management of their vendors, partners, and competitor both by setting a model and by presenting their own ecological norms, they may train their own local engineers and specialized staff with preparing in contamination counteraction advancements, practices and waste minimization.

There is additionally the issue of MNCs subcontracting creation and going about as worldwide wholesalers, this decoupling gives them a reason to put their hands up and not assume liability for ecological harm brought about by such plants that assembling portions of their items. Yet, despite the fact that MNCs are constantly accused of utilizing non-industrial nations as contamination dumps, they additionally now are harbingers of a transformation in clean and naturally stable innovation.

Way forward

We conclude by highlighting some of the key issues that will need greater attention as Indian cities begin to address climate-related challenges. It is imperative to work towards evolving a robust framework that can radically change how Indian cities respond to the climate challenge. These changes will be driven partly by governance innovation and partly by creating effective implementation mechanisms.

Currently India is contributing about 6.8 percent to the world emissions and has a per capita emission of 1.9 tons [15]. The implementation of the Paris Agreement in the context of both India’s nationally determined contributions and the global response to the climate change challenge has not been great. We still are 2-degree complaint as per the 2020 emission gap report. Indian cities, civic bodies, and the local governance in general needs to identify concrete measures that lead towards sustained decarbonization and make infrastructure choices that help in avoiding high-carbon lock-ins. In addition, there is a need to address residual loss and damage due to unmitigated climate change through innovative policy and planning decisions and find ways through which climate impacts can be minimized. It is widely recognized that adaptation response is a highly localized issue and India will need to respond through local innovations in planning and policy narratives.
It is vital for Indian local governance to tie into bottom-up international climate response processes such as the Compact of Mayors (its largest corporate effort among mayors to ensure reduction in greenhouse emissions) and other related networks to leverage the potential of accessing climate finance and knowledge to enable meaningful transformation at the local level. It should also be noted that access to knowledge doesn’t always lead to policy change and implementation, so effective mechanisms are needed to ensure implementation. Media campaigns and generating a conversation amongst the masses should be one of the prime goals of the public leaders. This, however, will need a reform of existing government policies, infrastructure and mechanisms.
There is an imminent need to fix the legal loopholes in the system where companies from the developed world dump their toxic waste in the developing world. Rather than taking an easy way-out, the companies must go one step further and develop innovative technologies for waste management. The issue of avoiding liabilities by subcontracting needs to be addressed too.
A state-level climate operational strategy will require dovetailing of interventions across developmental and infrastructure transitions, for which a robust implementation framework will have to be identified. This will require explicit connections to be made with other goals within the SDG framework that allow for simultaneous achievement of basic development goals and climate targets. Effective implementation across climate, disaster risk and the development agenda will be the most significant challenge that cities will face. A mechanism that allows flexibility of integrating and mainstreaming the climate change, disaster risk and development agendas into the broader climate risk response framework will have to be created.

References

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