GHG emissions: A long way to go from extreme heat to green feat

Climate scientist Raghu Murtugudde, University of Maryland, United States, explained the recent weather events in Uttarakhand, “What is unusual in the current scenario is the very warm temperature anomaly to the west of north India over Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Arabian heat pumps winds into the northern Arabian Sea and there has been strong wind along the coast of Oman and going straight over Gujarat into Uttarakhand, which is increasing the chances of cloudbursts.” Floods, landslides, glacial lake bursts, excess rainfall, excess snowfall, and unseasonal rains would increase if climate change were not mitigated. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has defined cloudburst as an event when 100 mm of rain is received in an hour over a 20 to 30 sq km area.

Countries are still debating among themselves as to how and when the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) are cut to restrict the rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius over and above the temperature of the pre-industrial era. While the Paris climate accord is still to be implemented by member countries, we are expecting drastic steps of shutting down fossil fuel-based economies and propelling green energy as soon as possible. The Glasgow meeting in November 2021 raises our hope.

The impact of global warming has been ruining our lives and livelihoods. As if Covid was not enough, tourism in Konkan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and northern West Bengal is severely disrupted by rains and landslides, and many tourists were forced to cancel their travel plans and hotel bookings.

While Europe, India and central China were in flood, the USA, Greece, Turkey and Siberia reeled under wildfire. A month earlier, western Canada and the northwestern USA were the centres of massive heat waves. In Vancouver, people suffered in homes built in woods, not meant for such hot conditions. Air conditioners and fans were inadequate and people draped themselves in cold towels. Nearly 100 senior people died in Vancouver because of the heatwave. About 200 km away, the city of Lytton broke all Canadian records ever, with the temperature reaching 49.6 Celsius. This followed wildfire engulfing the city, reducing almost everything to ashes. All studies have pointed out that the heating of the planet is the reason for extreme weather conditions.

The heads of states of G7 nations at the Carbis bay meeting in the United Kingdom have reiterated the goal of cutting GHG emissions by 45% of 2010 level by 2030 and further to become net-zero by mid-century. However, China has announced to peak its emissions by 2030 and net-zero by 2060. The warming of land and oceans is causing unprecedented cloudbursts, heat waves and wildfires; world leaders should exert pressure on China and bring the country on board. They have also faced a recent cloudburst when more than 600 mm of rainfall was received in three days, inundating Zhengzhou where 300 people perished and roads and subway turned into flowing rivers, damaging properties extensively.

However, US climate envoy John Kerry has called on China to increase the speed and depth of its efforts to cut emissions. He added that the temperature has already gone up to 1.20 C and promises made during and since the Paris accord would still see the temperature increase by 2.5 to 30 C. He was critical of Indonesia, Brazil and other countries still building new coal-fired power stations and are illegally cutting down rainforests, thus damaging the lungs of the world and destroying irreplaceable biodiversity.

However, wildfires in 1.5 million hectare forests in Siberia, 1.3 million ha in California and .5 million ha in Greece and Turkey should be the cause of greater worry. Towns and cities were choked with smoke and GHG emissions from forest fires. Growing stock in forests is the best and the cheapest carbon sink. We have released carbon in the atmosphere and also lost space for sequestration; we are hit by a double whammy. John Kerry must go round and ensure that forest fires across the globe are controlled. In Greece, coal-fired power stations slated for retirement were brought back into service to shore up the national grid, under pressure due to the widespread use of air-conditioners for relief from the heat. We are in a vicious cycle as we are forced to burn additional fossil fuels to keep ourselves cool.

In the energy and climate joint ministerial meeting of G20 nations in Napier, Italy, our Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav called rich nations for lowering their per capita emissions to global average by 2030. India emits 7% of global emissions and has per capita emissions of about 2.47 tonnes of CO2 equivalent as compared to the global average of 6.45 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The minister added, “The momentum of climate action can only be accelerated when there is enough support through means of implementation including finance and technology.” China, a country of 1.4 billion people, emits 25% of global emissions and comparison of per capita emissions will provide more leverage to them. The US and The EU (including the UK) contribute 13% and 19% of global emissions respectively. To bring down global emissions, all top polluters must be targeted and China cannot be allowed to go scot-free on the basis of population.

There are bottlenecks in the transition to clean energy. Renewable technologies require more wiring as compared to fossil fuel-based power generation. Solar or wind power plants and electric cars require three to five times more copper as compared to fossil fuel-based generation. Aluminium is another metal vital for solar and other green energy projects. About 40% of the world’s copper supply came from Peru and Chile and in both countries, mining projects are slowed down. Also, 60% of the world’s aluminium supply came from China, where production is brought down as part of a campaign to reach carbon neutrality. A sharp rise in demand for metal like copper, aluminium etc for renewable energy projects pushes the prices upwards, making projects more prohibitive. International cooperation is required on the issue of raw materials and the transfer of technology that can be flagged for the Glasgow meeting.

(The writer is former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests , Karnataka)