Climate Change

Recent Scientific Findings from IPCC Fifth Assessment Report:

published in 2014 has observed that there has been an increasing trend in the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) since the advent of the industrial revolution, with about half of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions during this period occurring in the last forty years. The period 1983- 2012 is likely to have been the warmest thirty year period of the last 1400 years. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes have contributed a major portion of total GHG emissions during the period 1970 - 2010.

The ecological overshoot problem, i.e. the ecological footprint being larger than the biocapacity of the population, is an important issue in the global climate discourse. The ‘overshoot’ can also be understood in terms of the carbon budget. The risk of climate change is largely a function of total cumulative GHGs in the atmosphere.

IPCC AR5 has estimated that for temperature increase to remain below 2°C of pre-industrial levels the world can emit only about 2,900 Giga tones (Gt) of CO2 from all sources from the industrial revolution till 2100.

Global GHG Emissions from Major Sectors and Countries:

Since 2000 GHG emissions have been growing in all sectors, except agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU). Of the 49 (±4.5) GtCO2 eq (CO2 equivalent) emissions in 201035 per cent were released in the energy supply sector, 24 per cent in AFOLU, 21 per cent in industry, 14 per cent in transport, and 6.4 per cent in buildings.

India’s Progress on Climate Change National Action Plan on Climate Change:

India was one of the early adopters of a national climate change plan. Launched way back in 2008, the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) outlines policies directed at mitigation and adaptation to combat climate change. India is also working on the voluntary goal of reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP (excluding emissions from agriculture) by 20-25 per cent by 2020 as compared to the base year of 2005. The recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emission Gap Report (2014) has recognized India as being one of the countries on track to achieve its voluntary pledges.

State Action Plans on Climate Change:

Subsequent to the NAPCC, in 2009 all the state governments were requested to prepare State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC). So far, 31 states have prepared and submitted SAPCC documents. The SAPCCs have both adaptation and mitigation components to address climate change impacts, though adaptation has been identified as the more important element. A combined budgetary requirement of around Rs.11, 33,692 crore has been estimated for implementation of the 31 SAPCCs.