US initiated a new mission to improve the climatic condition of the world i.e; net zero carbon emission mission. And it has pledged that this net zero goal should be fulfilled by mid of this century that is 2050. So many countries like Canada, south korea, japan and germany also signed for the mission to commit themselves to a net zero future. Even china has promised to go net-zero by 2060. It is important to add india because india is the world’s third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after US and china. But india has certain objection against signing this mission which I will discuss further in this article.

Net zero goal

Net zero, which is also referred to as carbon-neutrality, does not mean that a country would bring down its emission to zero. Rather, net zero refers that the emission of carbon must be compensated by the absorption of the same. Absorption of the emissions can be increased by creating more carbon sinks such as forests, while removal of gases from the atmosphere requires futuristic technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

So negative emissions are also possible when emission of carbon is less and absorption is more, then the emission will be in negative value. For example, Bhutan is country having negative emission because absorption capacity is more as compared to emission done by it.
A very big active campaign has been going on for the last two years to get every country to sign on to a net zero goal for 2050. It is being argued that global carbon neutrality by 2050 is the only way to achieve the paris agreement target of keeping the planet’s temperature from rising beyond 2 degree Celsius compared to pre industrial times. Current policies and actions being taken to reduce emissions would not even be able to prevent a 3-4 degree Celsius rise by the turn of the century. This net zero goal is a long term goal whose results will shown after many years and long term goals ensure predictability and continuity in policies and actions of the countries. But there has never been consensus on what this goal should be.
Earlier, the discussions used to be on the emission reduction targets and the main cause of today’s global warming is developed countries. Because years ago for the establishment of industries they had created lot of pollution and global warming which led to destruction and continuous change in climatic conditions. The net zero formulation does not assign reduction targets on any country.
So theoretically, a country can become carbon neutral at its current level of emission, or even by increasing its emissions, if it is able to absorb or remove more carbon from the environment. So it will be very easy for the countries which are already developed and a big relief, because now the burden is shared by everyone, and does not fall only on them. So it is the big cleverness of the developed countries.

Objections of india

India is the only one opposing this target because it is likely to be the most impacted by it. It is because india is a developing country and the next 20-25 years india works to become a developed country by doing industrialisation and by many other ways due to which the amount of emission of carbon will be on very large scale and it could not be compensated at any cost. No amount of afforestation or reforestation would be able to compensate for the increased emissions. And also the most of the carbon removal technologies right now are either unreliable or very expensive. But on principle as well as practice, india’s arguments are not easy to dismiss. The net zero goal does not figure in the 2015 paris agreement, the new global architecture to fight climate change. The paris agreement only requires every signatory to take the best climate action it can. So countries need to set five to ten year climate targets for themselves, and demonstrably show they have achieved them. The other requirements is targets for every subsequent time frame should be more ambitious than the previous one. India is arguing that instead of starting a new mission we have to continue focus on previous one. It is well on its way to achieving its three targets under the paris agreement, and looks likely to overachieve them.

References

https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050

https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/what-is-net-zero

https://www.myclimate.org/information/faq/faq-detail/what-does-net-zero-emissions-mean/

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.

Do follow me on Facebook, Twitter  Youtube and Instagram.

The copyright of this Article belongs exclusively to Ms. Aishwarya Sandeep. Reproduction of the same, without permission will amount to Copyright Infringement. Appropriate Legal Action under the Indian Laws will be taken.

If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems at adv.aishwaryasandeep@gmail.com

We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge