IPCC SIXTH REPORT
Context:
- India, the third largest emitter in the world, has been holding out against the zero-carbon target.
- India is arguing that it was already doing much more than it was required to do and that any further burden would jeopardise its efforts to pull its millions out of poverty.
IPCC key findings
- With a warning that a 1.5 degree warming was likely even before 2040, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has tried to make a case, much stronger than before, for immediate cuts on global greenhouse gas emissions.
- For India, it is likely to translate into increased pressure to agree to a net-zero target, a deadline by which it should be able to bring down its emissions to a level that equals the absorptions made by its carbon sinks, like forests.
- The Sixth Assessment Report, has triggered the widespread calls for stronger, more wide-ranging emission cuts from all countries.
- This is the first time that the IPCC has said that the 5 degree warming was inevitable even in the best case scenario.
- Several countries, have already announced their intentions to achieve net-zero emissions by the middle of the century, which include major emitters like the United States, China and the European
- The IPCC said that a global net-zero by 2050 was the minimum required to keep the temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius. Without India, this would not be possible. Even China, the world’s biggest emitter, has a net-zero goal for 2060.
- Immediate emission cuts and a steady pathway to net-zero is expected to bring better benefits than a business-as-usual scenario and a sudden drop in emissions towards the end to meet the target.
- The IPCC report could also lead to renewed demands that all countries update their climate action plans, called nationally-determined contributions or NDCs in official language.
- About 110 countries have updated their NDCs, but not China or India, or South Africa.
- All nations still have the opportunity to submit ambitious NDCs. Nations that have already submitted new or updated NDCs still have the opportunity to review and enhance their level of ambition.
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