• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Delhi: Diesel gensets banned as AQI tanks

Besides ban on diesel gensets and increase in parking fee, other measures that will come into force include ban on the use of coal and wood in restaurants and open kitchens and augmentation of bus and Metro services. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Thursday banned the use of diesel generator sets and ordered enhancing of parking fee by up to four times in Delhi-NCR, measures listed under the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) when the air quality hits ‘very poor’, according to an official order. Though the air quality in Delhi is yet to hit ‘very poor’ category (when average AQI is between 200 and 300) this month, pollution levels have escalated fast since Monday when the city reported an AQI of 82 (in the satisfactory category) to 268 (poor category) on Thursday. HT reported on Tuesday that according to an assessment by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Delhi is headed towards an air emergency as stubble fires are expected to peak -- coinciding with Diwali (to be celebrated on November 4), when pollution levels usually spike because of large-scale bursting of firecrackers despite a ban. According to the CPCB order, the implementation of Grap measures under ‘very poor’ category were ordered to be enforced after a meeting convened by a sub-committee of the Commission for Air Quality Management in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas (CAQM) concluded that the air quality in the city is set to deteriorate in the coming days and hit dangerous levels. Actions under ‘very poor’ category, in addition to steps listed under the ‘poor to moderate’ AQI category should be implemented with immediate effect in Delhi-NCR,” the CPCB order read. Besides ban on diesel gensets and increase in parking fee, other measures that will come into force include ban on the use of coal and wood in restaurants and open kitchens and augmentation of bus and Metro services. These measures will be in addition to the steps that were enforced on October 18 listed under ‘moderate to poor’ category such as ban on firecrackers, stopping burning of garbage, mechanised sweeping of roads, sprinkling of water on unpaved roads and strict implementation of the PUC norms for vehicles. On October 18, three days after its usual commencement date, the CPCB called into force the GRAP, and said that the measures listed under the ‘moderate to poor’ air quality section of the emergency plan should be immediately put into place by the Capital’s agencies, irrespective of the daily AQI readings. Prashant Gargava, chairperson of the sub-committee on Grap, and member secretary, CPCB, told HT that conditions were expected to become worse in the coming days, with north-westerly winds bringing high load of pollutants from stubble fires in Punjab and Haryana. This is coinciding with a drop in the temperature that makes dispersal of pollutants difficult. “Therefore, we have decided to enforce measures under the ‘very poor’ category of Grap,” said Gargava, adding that citizens will be asked to take certain measures such as providing electric heaters to security guards to stop them for burning biomass to keep themselves warm. In a statement the CAQM said, “Grap is in place and under implementation. A statutory sub-committee including experts has been constituted for its operationalisation and issuing necessary orders. The Grap specifically provides for the action to be taken by various agencies responsible for implementation under different AQI categories: moderate to poor, very poor, severe and emergency...The sub-committee is regularly holding meetings to take stock of the situation for appropriate intervention.” Gargava said that power agencies have been advised to ensure that 24x7 power supply is provided across Delhi-NCR to cut dependence on generator sets. However, several areas, especially in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh depend on high power diesel gensets for power back up, as power supply is patchy. In 2019 and 2020, the government of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana had sought exemptions as many private housing societies in the two states completely depended on generator sets for their power supply. However, the CPCB has exempted the use of generators for emergency purposes such as medical services, elevators and escalators, railway, Metro and at airports. Senior municipal corporation officials said that they were yet to receive the CPCB order, adding that a similar order in 2017 led to chaos with people parking their vehicles on roads and pavements to avoid designated lots. A senior South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) official who oversees parking services said the four-fold hike could be counterproductive, saying in 2017 the hike led to chaotic traffic conditions had occurred and traffic jams in many areas. “A considerable portion of the authorised parking lots remained vacant,” he said. BS Vohra, president, East Delhi RWA Joint Front, said temperatures were yet to drop significantly, giving sufficient time to the residents bodies provide heaters to guards. He added, “Citizens are willing to fight pollution, but the government needs to come up with a long-term plan against the sources of pollution,” said Vohra. Experts said Grap measures must be implemented thoroughly. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said, “Everyone knows that Delhi sees the first instance of its worst pollution episodes after Diwali because of cracker bursting. This time around things could get worse because this will be around the same time that stubble burning instances peak. Agencies will have to ensure 100% boots on ground so that we can control the situation.”

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Dwarka tops list, Anand Vihar second among air pollution hot spots in Delhi

Dwarka has stayed in the top five list for nine out of the 12 days, and Anand Vihar on eight days, shows CPCB’s daily air quality bulletins As the air quality in Delhi has begun worsening, Central Pollution Control Board has started releasing daily air quality reports (AP) New Delhi Dwarka, Anand Vihar, Mundka and Shadipur have spent at least four days in the daily list of Delhi’s top five pollution hot spots since October 17, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Dwarka has stayed in the top five list for nine out of the 12 days, and Anand Vihar on eight days, shows CPCB’s daily air quality bulletins, underlining the need for immediate local measures to curb pollution in these areas where air has consistently stayed harmful. As the air quality in Delhi has begun worsening, Central Pollution Control Board has started releasing daily air quality reports, featuring the day’s top five most polluted locations across Delhi and NCR. The bulletin features the daily farm fire count, the daily Air Quality Index (AQI), meteorological conditions and forecast for the next day by both the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). Currently, Delhi has 13 pollution hot spots that the CPCB identified in 2018, including Rohini, Okhla Phase-2, Punjabi Bagh, Vivek Vihar, Wazirpur, Jahangirpuri, RK Puram, and Narela. The other locations which feature regularly on the top five most polluted hot spots include Nehru Nagar, which featured on five days, Mundka (four days), Shadipur (four days) and Dilshad Garden (four days). On October 5, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said that 150 pollution hot spots will be identified across the city for widespread and targeted interventions against local sources of pollution. “The 13 pollution hot spots that we had identified last year were based on consistently high levels of pollution in these areas. These 150 hot spots, however, will be selected based on the complaints of waste burning, open dumping and traffic jams that we received via the green Delhi app. We will be keeping a close watch on these areas this time from our green war room, and immediate action will be taken to control the sources of pollution there,” Rai said. Prashant Gargava, CPCB member secretary told HT that these reports were being shared with different government agencies as well as the municipal corporations, so that they can initiate suitable action. “Agencies will be better prepared once they know air quality is expected to deteriorate. Similarly, we have asked them to look at the data and act on pollution hot spots accordingly. Sprinkling water on unpaved roads and at construction sites, mechanised road sweeping, and controlling burning of waste can easily be enforced,” said Gargava. Experts said the data should be shared with citizens as well as agencies for better enforcement of measures to bring pollution under control at the hot spots. “We have already adopted a hot spot-management approach for 13 pollution locations, but we need to know the local sources of pollution at each spot, and how quick the agencies can respond. If one knows the top five most polluted locations, short-term measures such as the sprinkling of water could be done for instance,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Data shows that besides hot spots, areas that have not been added to the list, have been consistently reporting high pollution levels. For instance, Mundka features in the original list of 13 pollution hot spots, Shadipur, Dilshad Garden and Nehru Nagar don’t. “Agencies need to keep that in mind too and may revise pollution hot spots going ahead,” Chowdhury added. Mukesh Sharma, professor of civil engineering at IIT Kanpur and part of the team which will carry out real-time apportionment of sources of pollution in Delhi, said that though certain sources of pollution cannot be controlled in the short-term, but steps can always be taken to curb sources such as road dust and congestion. “Currently, this data can still guide action on the ground wherever required. In future, we need to identify locations that may be hot spots, and the potential sources that are responsible for highe levels of pollution,” said Sharma.

• Climate Change and Green Economy

COP26: PMO holds meet amid calls for India to up target

Normally, the Union Cabinet approves India’s stance at climate negotiations, which is then presented and negotiated during the conference of parties. This time, however, the PMO held a meeting to discuss what India’s stance should be at COP26. Ahead of the Glasgow climate change conference (COP26), the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday held a lengthy inter-ministerial meeting on India’s position at the summit, an official aware of the development said. The inter-ministerial meeting was represented by officials of most ministries, including power, new and renewable energy, earth sciences, finance and agriculture, among others. Normally, the Union Cabinet approves India’s stance at climate negotiations, which is then presented and negotiated during the conference of parties. This time, however, the PMO held a meeting to discuss what India’s stance should be at COP26. “Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself will be travelling to the summit, the Cabinet approval was not needed. It was decided that India will not be an outlier,” said a senior official who attended the meeting. The official did not divulge details of what transpired at the high-level meeting. “We cannot give any more details at the moment but it was discussed at length as to what is possible for India respecting various principles of the Paris Agreement,” the official cited above said. “It was a very lengthy meeting. Unusual but all issues related to the negotiations were discussed. Just two days back, the environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, spoke with US special presidential envoy on climate John Kerry, where the minister said that India’s contribution will be communicated to the world at an appropriate time and place,” the official added. He acknowledged that there was a lot of diplomatic pressure on India to make a strong submission at COP 26. “Many foreign delegates who visited us have cajoled us to commit to a net zero target. The options are still open; I would say that no particular decision was arrived at but the options have been discussed,” the official said. Ahead of the Glasgow COP26, its president Alok Sharma said he expects India to incorporate a 450 GW renewable energy- by- 2030 target in the nationally determined contribution (NDC) it will submit. In a press conference organised by Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of journalists and newsrooms, on Tuesday, Sharma said every country starts with a different energy mix but India’s informal goal of 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030 should be formalised in its NDC before COP26. “That’s what I told Indian officials and ministers when I was there,” he said. Sharma didn’t directly respond to a question on whether developed countries would agree to advanced net zero targets to make room for developing countries like India to grow. “That is a discussion that has been raised with me when I was in Delhi in the past and CBDR [common but differentiated responsibilities] is part of the Paris Agreement. My consistent message to every country is that we all need to play our part,” he said, before referring to the 450 GW target again. “I am impressed with the target of 450 GW. What I wanted is for that to be reflected in the NDC. I will be the first person to welcome that loudly if that happens.” At least 120 world leaders, including PM Modi, are likely to attend the summit at COP26 on November 1 and 2. Chinese President Xi Jinping hasn’t confirmed his presence but a negotiating team from China will be present, Sharma said. Glasgow will be more challenging than Paris. Our overarching ambition is to say at the end of Glasgow that we have kept 1.5 degree Celsius alive,” Sharma said. There is likely to be an agreement at the end of Glasgow which will be a result of two weeks’ of negotiations to say how the world plans to keep global warming under 1.5°C. Most experts agree that the target of keeping global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C over pre-industrial levels has most likely been missed for good. There is no confirmation on what India’s submission at COP26 is likely to be. A 14-to-15-member delegation with officials from the ministries of power, finance, earth sciences, agriculture, new and renewable energy, environment, and water will represent India at COP26. It will be headed by environment minister Yadav. India’s lead climate negotiator is joint secretary in the environment ministry, Richa Sharma. PM Modi is likely to be in Glasgow till November 2 when he and UK PM Boris Johnson are expected to make a joint statement on the Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid’ (GGIOSOWOG) at COP 26. GGIOSOWOG will bring technical, financial and research cooperation to help facilitate cross-border renewable energy transfer projects according to the International Solar Alliance. Yadav is expected to lead India during the negotiations in the second week when several issues related to the Paris Rulebook — a set of guidelines for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement are likely to be debated. While not commenting on whether India will present an updated nationally determined contribution (NDC) ahead of COP26, officials said: “It is not mandatory for India to update its NDC. It can update it during the global stocktaking in 2023. Whatever India announces will be on a voluntary basis.” According to them, “Developed countries have been pushing India to announce a net zero emissions target. But for us our position is clear — action has to be taken based on historical responsibility which means they (developed countries) transition to net zero emissions first leaving carbon space for us to grow.” India will push for climate justice and equity and contribution based on historical responsibility during negotiations with a similar stand as 24 other like-minded developing countries (LMDCs), including China. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, announced plans to reach zero-net emissions by 2060 at the Saudi Green Initiative on Saturday. The UAE, on October 7, became the first Gulf state to commit to net zero emissions by 2050. Russia and China have also announced plans to transition to net zero by 2060. According to the UN, 130 countries have already set or are considering a net zero emissions target by mid-century. According to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a non-profit organisation on energy and climate change issues in the UK, a net zero commitment by 2060 is under discussion in India. “Net zero for a later date is on the platter as an option,” a senior environment ministry official said last week. “India should announce an enhanced NDC not because of its responsibility or contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions; but because it is in our best interest. For us climate action is for co-benefit,” said Sunita Narain, director general, Centre for Science and Environment.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Delhi: In first for the season, temp below 15°C as AQI worsens

Delhi’s overall AQI was recorded at 232 (poor), from Tuesday’s reading of 139 (moderate), largely owing to a rise in farm fires across the northern plains The mercury fell below the 15-degree Celsius mark on Wednesday morning for the first time this winter, with the minimum temperature recorded at 14.6 degrees Celsius — two notches below normal — as Delhi’s air quality deteriorated sharply in the last 24 hours, and was expected to get over the rest of the week. Delhi’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 232 (poor), from Tuesday’s reading of 139 (moderate), largely owing to a rise in farm fires across the northern plains as the contribution of stubble burning in Delhi’s overall PM 2.5 concentration touched a season high of 16%, data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) showed. Safar, which comes under the Union ministry of earth sciences, has forecast that the air quality will further deteriorate “rapidly” in the next 24 hours to touch “very poor” by Thursday, and then hit the higher end of the “very poor” category by Friday. “Delhi’s AQI is in the ‘poor’ category. The effective fire count of stubble burning in the northwest region of Delhi is 656 and its share in PM2.5 is 16% as transport level winds are north westerly. AQI is now forecasted to deteriorate rapidly and slip to the ‘very poor’ category by Thursday and deteriorate further to the higher end of the ‘very poor’ category by Friday,” SAFAR said on Wednesday, stating that calm local winds, along with highly favourable transport-level winds (northwesterly winds that will bring pollution from Punjab and Haryana towards Delhi) are expected to enhance stubble-burning related intrusion. Any increase in fire counts in the next three days would increase the finer particle levels of Delhi,” it added. Prior to Wednesday, the highest contribution of stubble burning in Delhi’s air was 15% on October 21. Two stations – Shadipur and Anand Vihar were in the “very poor” category, with readings of 316 and 313 respectively. An AQI between 51 and 100 is classified as “satisfactory”, between 101 and 200 is “moderate”, between 201 and 300 is “poor”, and between 301 and 400 is “very poor”. An AQI over 401 is meanwhile classified as “severe” by the Central Pollution Control Board. The Capital’s air quality deteriorates to hazardous levels every winter, plunging the city into a public health emergency. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says while a delayed monsoon has helped control pollution spikes, historical data shows an episodic smog event is generally seen in late-October and early November, coinciding with stubble burning peaks and Diwali. “With the current meteorological conditions, we may see another such event before or around Diwali and the exposure to air pollution during this period is at its peak. With Covid-19 still around, as a community, we may have to avoid exposure to outside air and this is generally seen each year when regulatory agencies ask people to avoid stepping out or exercising during smog events,” she said. Safdarjung,Delhi’s base station recorded a maximum temperature of 28.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday – three notches below normal, while the minimum was recorded at 14.6 degrees. Mayur Vihar recorded the lowest maximum temperature on Wednesday at 26.8 degrees, while the lowest minimum across Delhi was 14.1 degrees Celsius at Mungeshpur. A Met official says local winds are becoming calm at night, which coincides with a drop in temperature, leading to a spike in pollution late at night and in the morning. “Following the rain, there is also moisture in the air and you are now seeing a slight haze at night. Calm winds mean the contribution from stubble burning and local pollutants are now becoming trapped and similar conditions are expected in the next few days,” said the official who asked not to be named. IMD has forecast the minimum temperature to remain around 14 degrees Celsius for the next two days, and said it could dip to 13 degrees by Saturday. The maximum temperature, meanwhile, is expected to remain below 30 degrees till the end of the week.

• Climate Change and Green Economy

India at COP26: 450GW renewable energy goal by 2030 likely to be NDC highlight

UN summit in Glasgow: In a tweet after a meeting at the PMO on India’s stand at the COP26 climate change talks, environment minister Bhupender Yadav said India is on track to achieve the goal India’s goal of achieving 450GW renewable energy by 2030 is likely to be the highlight of the country’s contribution to climate change mitigation at the UN-led COP26 summit that begins in Glasgow on Sunday. In a tweet after an inter-ministerial meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on India’s stand at COP26, union environment minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday said India is on track to achieve the goal. “India under the visionary leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi ji is leading the fight against climate change. As the country remains a ‘high performer’ in the Climate Change Performance Index, India is also on track to achieve the renewable energy target of 450 GW by 2030,” Bhupender Yadav tweeted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15 announced that India has installed 100GW of renewable energy. He added that India is the only country among G20 nations that is progressing rapidly to meet its climate goals. India has set a target of achieving 40% of electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. One of the means to achieve the target is installing 175GW of renewable energy by 2022. Under the Paris Agreement, India presently has three quantifiable NDCs. They include lowering the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35% compared to 2005 levels by 2030, increasing total cumulative electricity generation from fossil-free energy sources to 40% by 2030, and creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes through additional forest and tree cover. Centre for Science and Environment director general Sunita Narain called the 450GW goal substantial. “It will be difficult to achieve, but we have to see what measures are put in place. There are projections that solar prices would go up because there aren’t enough loans or finance to support the capital cost mainly because the risk is high,” Narain said. An official, who attended the meeting at the PMO, said announcing a distant net zero goal may not be a solution to the present climate change crisis. “So, we may focus on immediate goals. But options are still open. The net zero option has not been closed,” the official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that since Narendra Modi will be travelling to Glasgow, the Cabinet’s approval was not needed. “It was decided that India will not be an outlier at COP26.” Ahead of COP26, the summit’s president Alok Sharma said on Tuesday that he expects India to incorporate 450GW renewable energy goal by 2030 in the NDC that it will submit. Sharma said every country starts with a different energy mix, but India’s informal goal of 450GW should be formalised in its NDC before the Glasgow talks. The Coalition of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), a global partnership of 27 countries initiated by India in 2019, will also be launching an initiative to help small island states develop resilience to climate change at COP26. The initiative titled “Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States” will be implemented between 2022 and 2030 in 58 countries in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and the South China Sea. India, Australia, and the UK are likely to pledge $10 million each for the project and other CDRI initiatives. Other countries are also likely to contribute. Japan and the US have offered support in kind, mainly in technical expertise.

• Climate Change and Green Economy

COP26 Preview | Nations meet to act on climate amidst Covid-19 rupture

China’s mishandling of the initial Covid-19 infections may have alienated it and experts predict the talks could be even more contentious than earlier as the increasingly bipolar nature of global political summits pits China against the Western powers. Starting October 31, heads of states will meet for the 26th edition of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, or COP26, as it is better known. While discussions on something as crucial as climate change cannot take place in a vacuum, the upcoming conference could be quite tetchy due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant global economic slowdown. The two-week annual summit was originally due to be held in 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. Nations will once again converge to decide how to reduce harmful carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that threatens humanity’s collective future. Excess CO2 in the atmosphere has caused the average global temperature to shoot up over the past 150 years, melting glaciers and raising ocean levels. The latest COP comes in the backdrop of a major shift in global geopolitics. China’s mishandling of the initial Covid infections and its dogged refusal to even share the blame for the pandemic have alienated it from a large number of nations. The talks are expected to be even more contentious than before as the increasingly bipolar nature of global political summits pits China against the Western powers. The China-vs-all or China-vs-Quad nations scenario will invariably come up,” said Samrat Sengupta, programme director, climate change & renewable energy at the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment. “This will also have an impact on the environment or climate debate because energy – the source and security of energy – is inherent to all those politics. We can’t avert this.” Health or climate? The pandemic, the race to manufacture vaccines, and the attempts to ramp up healthcare systems to save lives, whether in advanced economies like the US or developing nations like India, presented policymakers with some uncomfortable questions – after all, no nation has an infinite budget. While it won’t be a stark choice between spending on renewable energy or on healthcare, policymakers around the world may have to choose what to prioritise in the short to medium term, a government official told Moneycontrol on condition of anonymity. Some have argued that Indian policymakers will have a tougher time in trying to convince the electorate of the benefits of investing more money and effort in the environment than in healthcare in the post-Covid era. But experts dismiss these concerns, saying governments know they are way past these arguments. “One thing we cannot discuss is health vs energy or health vs environment because the present requirement on the primary health care systems is a reactive requirement,” Sengupta said. “You have to do it immediately. On the other hand, renewables are perfectly poised to be a politically perfect agenda to push for because it’s the cheapest and it is modular. As a result, it provides us with an opportunity to democratise the supply side. Renewables are also pushing for electrification and creates major employment.” Asian giants At the same time, India’s rivalry with China in the economic and political space has threatened to spill over into environmental diplomacy where the countries have long batted together against richer nations. “For many years, China and India had acted as part of a single bloc when it came to environmental issues. But in the last decade, China has risen rapidly and currently is responsible for 30 percent of global emissions. Its per capita emissions are currently at levels above the European Union and are expected to reach US levels in the next five years,” Sengupta said. Considering that India has an almost similar population, its per capita emissions are still less than one-third of average global emission levels. This disparity, among other issues, ensures that China and India will not be on similar grounds at international fora, let alone act as a bloc any more, he stressed. India’s agenda As reported earlier, the Indian delegation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to mount a major diplomatic campaign during COP26 aimed at pushing developed nations like the US, Australia and the European Union bloc to announce major cutbacks in their carbon emissions in the next five years. India plans to enter the summit on a high, having implemented ambitious goals towards increasing non-renewable sources of energy, said a senior official involved in the planning for India's participation at the event. At the historic Paris summit in 2015, all emitters, big and small, had agreed to bring forward new and more ambitious carbon-cutting plans every five years. The 2020 deadline has since passed without major commitments from any member of the developed bloc. India will also push for green financing from developed nations and seek to channel a part of this support to the International Solar Alliance, a network of 90-plus countries that it has established and championed. The government will continue to argue that the country’s per capita emissions show each Indian has a much smaller carbon footprint than the average American or European. In 2015, India was one of the major economies to announce drastic cuts in its carbon emissions. At the Paris climate summit, New Delhi pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by 33-35 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. On the other hand, Modi has set a target of generating 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030, which is five times the current capacity and two and half times the Paris pledge. India’s share of non-fossil-fuel-based energy resources in terms of installed electricity generation capacity has already reached 38 percent against a target of 40 percent by 2030.

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Pollution, winter, and Delhi’s annual tryst with bad air

Every year, agencies along with the state and Union environment ministers suggest air quality may not deteriorate like the previous years because of several new measures. But invariably, the onset of winter brings a massive public health challenge New Delhi: In the middle of September, people in Delhi were sharing pictures of azure blue skies, while exclaiming how the clean air in the Capital made a difference to their lives. Gradually, air quality started declining, hitting “poor” levels (air quality index of 201 to 300) on October 16 when a grey sky hung over the Capital. After two episodes of unseasonal thunderstorms and rain came to Delhi’s rescue, air quality monitoring agencies have warned of a downward spiral this week onwards. Every year, agencies along with the state and Union environment ministers suggest air quality may not deteriorate like the previous years because of several new measures that have been put in place. But invariably, the onset of winter brings a massive public health challenge, leading to increased hospitalisations with complications of chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, strokes, asthma, cardiac issues and so on. “As doctors, we see the impacts of pollution on people first-hand, especially on the more vulnerable sections like senior citizens and children. In many health-related issues, you might not see an immediate impact of pollution exposure, but in more chronic cases, pollution does play a role in deteriorating a patient’s condition,” said Arvind Kumar, founder of Lung Care Foundation and chairperson of the Institute of Chest Surgery, Chest Onco Surgery and Lung Transplantation. This is significant because the World Health Organization (WHO) tightened its air quality guidelines last month bringing down the annual PM 2.5 (respirable pollution particles) guideline from 10 micrograms per cubic metres to 5 micrograms per cubic metres, and the 24-hour PM 2.5 guideline from 25 micrograms per cubic metres (µg/m³) to 15 micrograms per cubic metres based on the latest evidence of health impacts from air pollution. In comparison, India’s thresholds are much higher. According to the 2009 National Ambient Air Quality Standards still in force, the acceptable PM2.5 exposure limit over 24 hours is 60µg/m³ (four times the new WHO limit), and for exposure over a year-long period, 40µg/m³ (eight times the revised WHO threshold). What happens in the winter? While various factors come together to deteriorate Delhi’s air quality in the winter — including a range of local and external factors — the weather plays a dominant role in keeping fine, respirable pollution particles (PM 2.) closer to the surface, not allowing them to disperse as easily as they would during any other time of the year. When the monsoon starts retreating from northwest India around October, wind direction changes from easterly to north-westerly. During monsoons, the winds, travelling from over the Bay of Bengal, carry moisture and bring rains to northwest India washing away accumulated pollutants frequently. But after monsoon withdrawal, wind speed is low and north-westerly winds are dry. October also coincides with the harvest season in agrarian states such as Haryana and Punjab, from where winds blow into Delhi. Following the harvest, farmers burn paddy stubble which leads to the release of severe particulate pollution over Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi. This year, Punjab reported 4,006 and Haryana reported 1,835 stubble fires from September 21 to October 14, according to an analysis by the Central Pollution Control Board. On October 16 alone, there were 429 fire points in Punjab, and 176 over Haryana. “Along with the change in wind direction, the rise in pollution levels can also be attributed to a fall in temperatures. As temperature dips, the inversion height — a layer of the atmosphere beyond which pollutants cannot disperse — is lowered. Here is how to understand it: Visualise the pollution particles in the atmosphere as students in a classroom. While the same number of students can move around and play freely in a larger classroom, as the size of the classroom shrinks, they look more packed and have difficulty in moving freely,” said RK Jenamani, senior scientist, India Meteorological Department (IMD). The current interventions The Union environment ministry is trying a basket of measures to keep the number of stubble fires low this time. Environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, said in September, during a press briefing on his meeting with environment ministers of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, and Delhi, that a bioenzyme developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa which helps decompose stubble in around 30 to 35 days is being used widely. The decomposer capsules will also be used over a million ha in Uttar Pradesh; 100,000 ha in Haryana; 1680 ha in Delhi and 3000 ha in Punjab. The agriculture ministry had, under the Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the State of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, allotted ₹700 crore for five years until 2020. Around 156,000 machines have been distributed, there are over 12,000 machine hiring centres in Punjab alone which will also be utilised. Yadav said that one of the important interventions this year will be of using stubble as biofuel. The National Thermal Power Corporation has floated a tender for 20 million tonnes of stubble for 4 years, according to Yadav. There are also projects in Kutch and parts of Rajasthan to procure paddy stubble for fodder which will be added to other forms of fodder to make it suitable for cattle. A senior environment ministry official had said the area under Pusa 44 — which matures late and leaves a lot of stubble — has reduced this year. Punjab also ran a campaign called “Mera Pani Meri Virasat” in which area under paddy has reduced marginally. The overall area under Basmati has increased, which normally doesn’t cause trouble with stubble because it decomposes easily. A senior scientist of the Punjab Agricultural University said that while the number of stubble fires in Punjab this year has been considerably lower compared to the previous years, it will be difficult to assess if these are a result of government interventions or if these fires are merely delayed because of unique weather conditions that north India has witnessed this time. “The usual trend is that from mid-October fires start peaking and by end of October and the first week of November the numbers peak to 3,000-4,000 a day. But currently, we are only reporting 300-400 fires a day. However, it is still too early to establish any trend because this could be a temporary situation because we saw a late monsoon withdrawal in the region this time and even in October there were episodes of heavy rain and hail in the state,” the scientist explained. The emissions and the commission Hostile weather and stubble fires are added to the city’s local pollution sources, which include construction and road dust, vehicular pollution, and open burning of waste. Over the last few years, Delhi has seen the formation and dismantling of several pollution monitoring and overseeing bodies tasked with controlling this annual air emergency. Little has changed in terms of action on-ground. And this year might not be too different. The Commission for Air Quality in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act was notified in August. It replaced the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution Control Authority in overseeing air pollution-related issues in Delhi. The newly constituted commission has sweeping powers in controlling air pollution in Delhi-NCR. Any non-compliance or contravention of any provisions of the act, rules made thereunder, or any order or direction issued by the commission is a punishable offence with imprisonment of up to five years or with a fine which may extend up to ₹1 crore, or both. The commission has exclusive jurisdiction in matters covered by the act. No other body or authority or committee or individual will have any power or jurisdiction in that matter. In addition, the Delhi government this year has announced the formation of a dedicated winter action plan to tackle various aspects of winter pollution in the city, and also pin accountability on agencies. This plan promises to focus on 10 primary sources, which tend to flare up during the pollution season and tackle it. While submitting its individual action plan to the Delhi government, the three municipal agencies (north, south, and east corporations) plan to curb pollution from waste burning and dust, focusing on intensive patrolling, increased mechanical sweeping, targeted operation of GPS-monitored water sprinkling tankers, and a new portal being developed with the help of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to monitor large construction sites. This year, agencies will also have to focus largely on construction sites. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, several construction projects in the city are racing to meet their deadline, which means that many pockets are lying dug-up with dust flying around and construction material slipping out of tin sheets, which in most sites are merely a boundary for show. Currently, in Delhi, there are at least six major ongoing construction projects. This includes the Central Vista, the underpass at Pragati Maidan, the Ashram underpass, the Barapullah extension, the Delhi Metro Phase-IV corridors, and the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). “The idea behind formulating a dedicated winter action plan for Delhi is to identify the problem and fix responsibility on agencies. As we go into the season, we will constantly keep monitoring the pollution sources and identify agencies that need to act on them. This will lead to systematically handling all the sources,” said a senior official of the DPCC. Environment experts, however, said that Delhi has, over the last few years, seen several “action plans”, but results can only be seen when agencies act on those plans. Many also said that Delhi already has a holistic action plan in place — the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) —which details what each agency needs to do. “It is not like Delhi has been moving aimlessly in managing winter pollution in the last few years. There is a detailed GRAP in place, which tells each agency exactly what to do when pollution reaches a certain level. It is good that the government is taking the matter seriously and is forming an action plan, but the true test comes to how well these plans are implemented,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director (research and advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment. Karthik Ganesan, fellow and director (research coordination) at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, said that while there have been efforts year after year to manage the pollution crisis in the Capital, source-specific action is needed. “There is an increasing level of effort each year and the administrative machinery is on ‘high alert’ to the impending air quality deterioration. However, the efforts are required on a number of fronts ranging from addressing issues within Delhi waste burning, high load from private vehicle use, poor service levels of buses which are the most used mode of transport, unabated emissions from large construction sites and none of these have been addressed in a concerted manner,” Ganesan said. He added, “A well-functioning app to report transgressions helps fire-fighting, but the sources outside the boundary of Delhi and indeed entrenched sources within need to be addressed year-round and not just as we enter the autumn season.”

• Director General Office

COP26 : प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी के लिए ग्लासगो दौरा क्यों अहम है?

भारत को पिछले एक साल में प्राकृतिक आपदाओं जैसे सूखा, बेमौसम बरसात, बाढ़ और तूफ़ान की वजह से 87 अरब डॉलर का नुक़सान हुआ है. ये आँकड़ा वर्ल्ड मीटियोरोलॉजिकल ऑर्गनाइज़ेशन ने जारी किया है. इस मामले में भारत से आगे केवल चीन है जिसका पिछले एक साल का नुक़सान 238 अरब डॉलर का है. जानकार इस नुक़सान को जलवायु परिवर्तन से जोड़ कर देखते हैं. यही वजह है कि भारत समेत दुनिया के तक़रीबन 120 देश ब्रिटेन के ग्लासगो शहर में जुट रहे हैं ताकि जलवायु परिवर्तन और उससे होने वाले ख़तरे से निपटने पर दुनिया एक साथ मिल-बैठकर क़दम उठा सके. दिल्ली, उत्तराखंड से लेकर केरल तक, गुजरात से लेकर पश्चिम बंगाल और असम तक के लोगों ने बदलते तापमान की वजह से होने वाले इन बदलावों को काफ़ी क़रीब से महसूस किया है. इन्हीं बदलावों के मद्देनज़र प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी का ग्लासगो दौरा अहम हो जाता है जहाँ दुनिया के तमाम बड़े देश दुनिया के बदलते तापमान को लेकर चर्चा करने वाले हैं. ग्लासगो में क्या होगा? ग्लासगो में COP26 सम्मेलन 31 अक्टूबर से होने वाला है. 13 दिन तक चलने वाले इस सम्मेलन को COP सम्मेलन कहा जाता है, जिसका मतलब - 'कॉन्फ़्रेंस ऑफ़ पार्टीज़' है. इस बार इस सम्मेलन में अमेरिका के राष्ट्रपति जो बाइडन आने वाले हैं. भारत की तरफ़ से पर्यावरण मंत्री भूपेंद्र यादव तो रहेंगे ही, प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी भी इसमें हिस्सा लेने वाले हैं. इस वजह से भारत के संदर्भ में ये सम्मेलन और भी महत्वपूर्ण हो जाता है. ग्लासगो का एजेंडा वैसे तो बहुत बड़ा है, लेकिन उनमें से सबसे अहम और महत्वपूर्ण है पेरिस समझौते के नियमों को अंतिम रूप देना. साल 2015 में क्लामेट चेंज को लेकर पेरिस समझौते हुआ था. इसका मक़सद कार्बन गैसों का उत्सर्जन कम कर दुनियाभर में बढ़ रहे तापमान को रोकना था ताकि ये 1.5 से 2 डिग्री सेल्सियस से ज़्यादा ना बढ़ने पाए. इसके बाद दुनिया के देशों ने स्वेच्छा से अपने लिए लक्ष्य तय किए थे. नरेंद्र मोदी इमेज स्रोत, Getty Images संयुक्त राष्ट्र के ताज़ा अनुमान के मुताबिक, वर्तमान में अलग-अलग देशों ने जो लक्ष्य तय किए हैं, उससे दुनिया का तापमान इस सदी के अंत तक 2.7 डिग्री सेल्सियस तक बढ़ेगा. इसलिए जलवायु परिवर्तन के दुष्प्रभाव से निपटना और ज्यादा ज़रूरी हो जाता है. ग्लासगो में इसी बात पर चर्चा होगी कि इस बार 2 डिग्री सेल्सियस तक के तापमान पर वादा करने से बात नहीं बनेगी. दुनिया के सभी देशों को मिलकर इसे 1.5 डिग्री सेल्सियस से ज़्यादा ना बढ़ने देने का संकल्प करना होगा. ये भी पढ़ें : जलवायु परिवर्तन: भारत को दी गई डेडलाइन पर है दुनिया की नज़र COP26 नेट- ज़ीरो का मतलब इसके लिए ज़रूरी है कि सभी देश अपने नेट-ज़ीरो डेडलाइन बताएं. ग्रीनहाउस गैस के उत्सर्जन और वातावरण से ग्रीनहाउस गैस कम करने के बीच के संतुलन को नेट ज़ीरो इमिशन कहते हैं. इसका मतलब ये है कि हर देश को एक वर्ष, डेडलाइन के तौर पर देना है, जब उस देश का कुल कार्बन-उत्सर्जन शून्य हो जाये. चीन, दुनिया का सबसे बड़ा कार्बन उत्सर्जक देश है. चीन पहले ही घोषणा कर चुका है कि वह 2060 तक कार्बन न्यूट्रल हो जाएगा. चीन ने यह भी कहा है कि उसका उत्सर्जन 2030 से पहले अपने चरम पर पहुंच जाएगा. दूसरे सबसे बड़े कार्बन उत्सर्जक देश अमेरिका ने नेट-ज़ीरो तक पहुंचने के लिए 2050 तक का लक्ष्य रखा है. अमेरिका का कहना है कि वह 2035 तक अपने पावर सेक्टर को डी-कार्बनाइज़ कर देगा. लेकिन भारत ने अभी तक इसके लिए अपनी डेडलाइन नहीं बताई है. वीडियो कैप्शन, जलवायु परिवर्तन से इंसानों को ख़तरा: यूएन कोयले पर निर्भरता ख़त्म करना ग्लासगो सम्मेलन में इस बात पर भी चर्चा होगी कि अब तक दुनिया में जहाँ-जहाँ कोयले से बिजली उत्पादन हो रहा है, उस पर निर्भरता कैसे ख़त्म की जाए. कोयले के इस्तेमाल से कार्बन उत्सर्जन सबसे ज़्यादा होता है. लेकिन आर्थिक विकास के लिए उसकी ज़रूरत को नज़रअंदाज भी नहीं की किया जा सकता. चीन, भारत और अमेरिका इसके लिए सबसे ज़्यादा ज़िम्मेदार हैं. इन तीनों देशों ने कोयले पर निर्भरता ख़त्म करने की कोई डेडलाइन नहीं दी है. जलवायु परिवर्तन पर बनी संयुक्त राष्ट्र की अंतर सरकारी समिति (आईपीसीसी) का कहना है कि दुनिया का तापमान 1.5 डिग्री सेल्सियस तक रोकने के लिए ज़रूरी है कि 2050 तक दुनिया की कोयले पर निर्भरता पूरी तरह ख़त्म हो जाए. कुछ जानकार मानते हैं कि इस पर चर्चा के दौरान विकसित देश बनाम विकासशील देश की लड़ाई आगे भी बढ़ सकती है. अमेरिका और ब्रिटेन जैसे प्राकृतिक गैस पर निर्भर देश विकासशील देशों पर कोयले पर निर्भरता ख़त्म करने के लिए दबाव बढ़ा रहे हैं जिसके लिए विकासशील देशों को आर्थिक मदद की ज़रूरत होगी. ये भी पढ़ें : भारत का प्रदूषण से डर, लेकिन कोयले से मोहब्बत COP26 पैसा कहाँ से आएगा? इसी आर्थिक मदद की ज़रूरत को ध्यान में रखते हुए पेरिस समझौते के अंतर्गत विकासशील देशों के लिए, विकसित देशों को जलवायु वित्तीय सहायता के तहत 100 अरब डॉलर प्रति वर्ष देना भी तय किया गया था. इस वादे को विकसित देश पूरा नहीं कर पाए हैं. विकासशील देश चाहते हैं कि जलवायु कोष के लिए 100 अरब डॉलर का जो वादा पेरिस में किया था, उसे वो ना सिर्फ़ पूरा करें, बल्कि आगे के लिए इस रक़म में इज़ाफ़ा भी करें. इस पर भी COP26 में चर्चा होगी. भारत के जाने-माने पर्यावरणविद् और आईफ़ॉरेस्ट के सीईओ चंद्र भूषण का कहना है, "ग्लासगो का एजेंडा बहुत बड़ा है. मेरे हिसाब से कोर एजेंडा यही होना चाहिए कि पेरिस समझौते के रूल बुक को पूरा किया जाए. इसके साथ ही विकसित और विकासशील देशों के बीच जो भरोसा टूटा है वो एक बार फिर से बहाल हो सके." ये भी पढ़ें : भारत कोयले के बिना क्यों नहीं रह सकता है? COP26 इमेज स्रोत, STRDEL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES हानि और क्षति सेंटर फ़ॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) की निदेशक सुनीता नारायण के मुताबिक़, "ग्लासगो में एक अहम एजेंडा भारत के लिहाज़ से हानि और क्षति का भी है. पेरिस समझौते में इस पर बहुत ठोस कुछ नहीं कहा गया था. 1970 से 2019 के बीच जलवायु परिवर्तन से जुड़ी 11 हज़ार प्राकृतिक आपदाएं दर्ज की गई थीं जिसमें 20 लाख से अधिक जानें गईं. इसलिए ग्लासगो में किसी समझौते पर पहुँचने के लिए 'हानि और क्षति' को मुआवज़े से जोड़ने की ज़रूरत है." उन्होंने आगे कहा कि इसलिए जो देश ज़्यादा ज़िम्मेदार हैं उनके बारे में खुल कर बोलने की ज़रूरत है. इस संदर्भ में उन्होंने खुल कर चीन का नाम भी लिया. ये भी पढ़ें : चीन और भारत कोयले से बिजली बनाएं या दुनिया की आबोहवा बचाएं? COP26 इमेज स्रोत, Getty Images पेरिस समझौते में भारत का वादा, कितना हुआ पूरा पेरिस समझौते के बाद भारत ने भी अपनी तरफ़ से जलवायु परिवर्तन से निपटने के लिए कई वादे किए थे जिसमें तीन प्रमुख बातें थीं. पहला - 2005 के मुकाबले 2030 तक कार्बन उत्सर्जन में 33 से 35 प्रतिशत की कमी का लक्ष्य सबसे अहम था. भारत सरकार का दावा है कि पहले लक्ष्य में 28 फ़ीसदी का टारगेट भारत 2021 में पूरा कर चुका है. लेकिन भारत दुनिया में चीन और अमेरिका के बाद कार्बन उत्सर्जन करने वाला तीसरा सबसे बड़ा देश है. भारत अभी भी दुनिया में कोयले का दूसरा सबसे बड़ा उपभोक्ता है और देश की कुल बिजली का 70% से ज़्यादा हिस्सा कोयले से ही उत्पादित होता है. विकासशील देश होने की वजह से इस बात की संभावना है कि देश के सतत आर्थिक विकास के लिए अगले कुछ दशकों तक ऊर्जा के उत्पादन का मुख्य स्रोत कोयला ही रहेगा. माना जा रहा है कि ये एक महत्वपूर्ण तथ्य है जिस वजह से भारत ने अभी तक नेट ज़ीरो लक्ष्य की घोषणा नहीं की है. COP26 इमेज स्रोत, STRDEL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES पेरिस समझौते के बाद भारत का दूसरा बड़ा वादा था- 2030 तक अपनी बिजली आपूर्ति का 40 फ़ीसदी हिस्सा रिन्यूएबल (अक्षय) और परमाणु ऊर्जा से हासिल करना. भारत सरकार का दावा है कि 2030 तक वो टारगेट से ज़्यादा (तक़रीबन 48 फ़ीसदी) हासिल कर लेगी. पेरिस समझौते में तीसरा बड़ा वादा भारत सरकार ने पेड़ लगाने का किया था. भारत सरकार का लक्ष्य था कि 2030 तक इतने पेड़ लगाए जाएं ताकि वातावरण से अतिरिक्त 2.5 से 3 बिलियन टन कार्बन डाईऑक्साइड गैस सोखी जा सके. केंद्र सरकार के आँकड़ों के मुताबिक़ 2001 से 2019 के बीच भारत का फ़ॉरेस्ट कवर 5.2 प्रतिशत बढ़ा है. लेकिन अंतरराष्ट्रीय संस्था ग्लोबल फ़ॉरेस्ट वॉच से ये आँकड़े मेल नहीं खाते. ग्लोबल फ़ॉरेस्ट वॉच के मुताबिक़ भारत में फ़ॉरेस्ट कवर घटा है. दोनों के आँकड़े अलग-अलग होने की एक बड़ी वजह 'फ़ॉरेस्ट कवर' की परिभाषा में अंतर भी है. COP 26 इमेज स्रोत, Hindustan Times ग्लासगो में भारत क्या कर सकता है? ग्लासगो में जानकारों को उम्मीद है कि भारत अपने लक्ष्यों को संशोधित करने का एलान कर सकता है. इससे पहले भारत सरकार ने 'नेट-ज़ीरो' पर बहुत भरोसा नहीं जताया है. चंद्र भूषण का कहना है, "भारत को इस सम्मेलन में एक लीडर के तौर पर जाना चाहिए, फ़ॉलोअर की तरह नहीं." "नेट ज़ीरो इमिशन का टारगेट भारत के फ़ायदे में है. भारत 2050 से 2060 के बीच यह हासिल कर सकता है. अगर दुनिया का तापमान 1.5 डिग्री सेल्सियस से ज़्यादा नहीं बढ़ेगा तो सबसे ज़्यादा फ़ायदे में भारत ही होगा. जल्द ही भारत की जनसंख्या 150 करोड़ होने वाली है. उसी अनुपात में ग़रीबों की संख्या भी बढ़ेगी, जो पहले से ही यहाँ ज़्यादा हैं. ग़रीबी का सीधा संबंध जलवायु परिवर्तन से है. ग़रीबों के पास रहने को पक्के मकान नहीं होते तो जलवायु परिवर्तन उन्हीं को सबसे ज़्यादा प्रभावित करता है. इससे देश की जीडीपी भी फिर प्रभावित होती है. भारत में मॉनसून पर निर्भरता भी बहुत ज़्यादा है." सीएसई की निदेशक सुनीता नारायण कहती हैं, "नेट ज़ीरो पर भारत सरकार क्या कहती है, इसके लिए हमें कुछ और वक़्त इंतज़ार करना होगा. लेकिन मेरा मानना है कि भारत सरकार कहेगी कि हमें 'नेट ज़ीरो' के पहले साल 2030 की तरफ़ ध्यान देने की ज़रूरत है."

• Director General Office

COP26 पर भारत: 2030 तक 450GW अक्षय ऊर्जा लक्ष्य NDC हाइलाइट होने की संभावना है

2030 तक 450GW अक्षय ऊर्जा प्राप्त करने का भारत का लक्ष्य रविवार को ग्लासगो में शुरू होने वाले संयुक्त राष्ट्र के नेतृत्व वाले COP26 शिखर सम्मेलन में जलवायु परिवर्तन शमन में देश के योगदान का मुख्य आकर्षण होने की संभावना है। COP26 में भारत के रुख पर प्रधान मंत्री कार्यालय (PMO) में एक अंतर-मंत्रालयी बैठक के बाद एक ट्वीट में, केंद्रीय पर्यावरण मंत्री भूपेंद्र यादव ने बुधवार को कहा कि भारत लक्ष्य हासिल करने की राह पर है। “पीएम श्री @narendramodi जी के दूरदर्शी नेतृत्व में भारत जलवायु परिवर्तन के खिलाफ लड़ाई का नेतृत्व कर रहा है। जैसा कि देश जलवायु परिवर्तन प्रदर्शन सूचकांक में एक ‘उच्च प्रदर्शन’ बना हुआ है, भारत भी 2030 तक 450 GW के नवीकरणीय ऊर्जा लक्ष्य को प्राप्त करने की राह पर है, ”भूपेंद्र यादव ने ट्वीट किया। प्रधान मंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने 15 अगस्त को घोषणा की कि भारत ने 100GW अक्षय ऊर्जा स्थापित की है। उन्होंने कहा कि जी20 देशों में भारत अकेला ऐसा देश है जो अपने जलवायु लक्ष्यों को पूरा करने के लिए तेजी से प्रगति कर रहा है। भारत ने पेरिस समझौते के तहत अपने राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर निर्धारित योगदान (एनडीसी) में 2030 तक गैर-जीवाश्म ईंधन स्रोतों से बिजली स्थापित क्षमता का 40% हासिल करने का लक्ष्य रखा है। लक्ष्य को प्राप्त करने का एक साधन 2022 तक 175GW नवीकरणीय ऊर्जा स्थापित करना है। पेरिस समझौते के तहत, भारत में वर्तमान में तीन मात्रात्मक एनडीसी हैं। इनमें 2030 तक 2005 के स्तर की तुलना में अपने सकल घरेलू उत्पाद की उत्सर्जन तीव्रता को 33-35% तक कम करना, जीवाश्म-मुक्त ऊर्जा स्रोतों से कुल संचयी बिजली उत्पादन को 2030 तक 40% तक बढ़ाना और 2.5-3 बिलियन टन का अतिरिक्त कार्बन सिंक बनाना शामिल है। अतिरिक्त वन और वृक्ष आच्छादन के माध्यम से। सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट की महानिदेशक सुनीता नारायण ने 450GW लक्ष्य को पर्याप्त बताया। “इसे हासिल करना मुश्किल होगा, लेकिन हमें यह देखना होगा कि क्या उपाय किए जाते हैं। ऐसे अनुमान हैं कि सौर कीमतें बढ़ेंगी क्योंकि पूंजीगत लागत का समर्थन करने के लिए पर्याप्त ऋण या वित्त नहीं है क्योंकि मुख्य रूप से जोखिम अधिक है, ”नारायण ने कहा। यह भी पढ़ें: इस सदी में तापमान 2.7 डिग्री सेल्सियस बढ़ने की राह पर दुनिया, यूएन की चेतावनी एक अधिकारी, जो पीएमओ में बैठक में शामिल हुए, ने कहा कि दूर के शुद्ध शून्य लक्ष्य की घोषणा करना वर्तमान जलवायु परिवर्तन संकट का समाधान नहीं हो सकता है। “इसलिए, हम तत्काल लक्ष्यों पर ध्यान केंद्रित कर सकते हैं। लेकिन विकल्प अभी भी खुले हैं। शुद्ध शून्य विकल्प बंद नहीं किया गया है, ”अधिकारी ने कहा। नाम न छापने की शर्त पर बात करने वाले अधिकारी ने कहा कि चूंकि नरेंद्र मोदी ग्लासगो की यात्रा करेंगे, इसलिए कैबिनेट की मंजूरी की जरूरत नहीं थी। “यह तय किया गया था कि भारत COP26 में अलग नहीं होगा।” COP26 से पहले, शिखर सम्मेलन के अध्यक्ष आलोक शर्मा ने मंगलवार को कहा कि उन्हें उम्मीद है कि भारत एनडीसी में 2030 तक 450GW अक्षय ऊर्जा लक्ष्य को शामिल करेगा जिसे वह प्रस्तुत करेगा। शर्मा ने कहा कि हर देश एक अलग ऊर्जा मिश्रण से शुरू होता है, लेकिन भारत के 450GW के अनौपचारिक लक्ष्य को ग्लासगो वार्ता से पहले अपने एनडीसी में औपचारिक रूप दिया जाना चाहिए। 2019 में भारत द्वारा शुरू की गई 27 देशों की वैश्विक साझेदारी, द डिजास्टर रेजिलिएंट इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर (CDRI) का गठबंधन, छोटे द्वीप राज्यों को COP26 में जलवायु परिवर्तन के प्रति लचीलापन विकसित करने में मदद करने के लिए एक पहल शुरू करेगा। कैरिबियन, प्रशांत और अटलांटिक, हिंद महासागर, भूमध्यसागरीय और दक्षिण चीन सागर के 58 देशों में 2022 और 2030 के बीच “इन्फ्रास्ट्रक्चर फॉर द रेजिलिएंट आइलैंड स्टेट्स” शीर्षक वाली पहल को लागू किया जाएगा। भारत, ऑस्ट्रेलिया और यूके द्वारा परियोजना और अन्य सीडीआरआई पहलों के लिए प्रत्येक को 10 मिलियन डॉलर देने की संभावना है। अन्य देशों के भी योगदान देने की संभावना है। जापान और अमेरिका ने मुख्य रूप से तकनीकी विशेषज्ञता के क्षेत्र में समर्थन की पेशकश की है।

• Director General Office

Our future is at stake in Glasgow

The world must recognise climate justice, call out advanced economies and China, frontload emissions reduction targets to 2030, phase out coal When leaders meet in the United Kingdom (UK) for the 26th conference of parties (COP) to discuss the climate crisis, they do so knowing that this time and there is no going back on the need for urgent and drastic action to combat the crisis. We no longer need science to forecast the possibility of the impacts of a changing climate. We see it in our world – extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and intensity and devastating life and economy. So, what is the agenda for COP26? First and foremost, climate negotiations must recognise the imperative of climate justice. This is not a moral issue alone. The reasons are inconvenient, yet simple; Carbon dioxide (CO2) has a long residence time in the atmosphere and, so, what is emitted in the past has accumulated and will force temperatures to rise. Then, CO2 is linked to the way the world runs its economy — fossil fuels (coal or gas) are still determinants of growth. And most important is the fact that millions of people are still waiting to get the advantages of economic progress, which means access to affordable energy. This, at a time, when the world has literally run out of carbon space to accommodate its need for development. So, what will this part of the emerging world do? Their growth — use of fossil fuels — will add to the jeopardy that awaits us. The question then is how can this growth be reinvented so that it is low-carbon, yet affordable? It is not enough to berate and bully the emerging world countries (including India) to action. This needs supportive policies and real transfer of global finance to enable the transformation. For far too long, the world has worked overtime to erase or dilute climate equity in negotiations. This is why the 2015 Paris Agreement was lauded — it got rid of the very concept of historical emissions, and consigned climate justice to a postscript. It even removed the idea that loss and damage that countries would suffer because of the climate crisis would have to be “compensated”. Worse, it created a weak and meaningless framework of climate action that would depend on what a country could do; not what it was expected to do based on its contribution to the stock of emissions or fair share. It should not surprise us, then, that the sum of the nationally determined contributions (NDC) — United Nations jargon for national reduction targets — takes the world towards a minimum of 3°C temperature rise or more. This is why future actions must accept the reality of climate equity and the need to address it. Second, COP26 must not dilly and dally around empty promises of net-zero targets for 2050. It must discuss how countries will frontload emission reductions for 2030. The fact is that the “old” industrialised countries and the new entrant, China, have appropriated 73% of the carbon space till 2019, and even with the reduction targets they have given, these countries will still occupy 70% of the budget by 2030. China alone will take up 33% of the available carbon budget between 2020 and 2030. It has not set emission reduction targets as yet; and while it has made grand promises of its move to renewable energy, the fact is China’s non-fossil fuel energy generation in 2019 was lower than India’s. It is time China was de-hyphenated from the Group of 77 and also from India. COP26 needs to have the spunk to call this out. Third, COP26 must recognise the need for transformational action – this is the order of our times, not diversionary and pusillanimous efforts. This is where the issue of coal must be discussed. The fact is coal use for generation of energy has been the biggest contributor to emissions in the past; today it adds 40% of the CO2 emissions and will do so in the future as well. The agenda has to be to phase out coal in the already industrialised world and then China — and let’s be clear this is not happening yet. And simultaneously to work on not building new coal plants in countries such as India or the continent of Africa. These countries need scaled up and affordable access to energy sources. But talk is cheap and real transformation needs hard financial transfers so that countries can build energy systems that can provide affordable power to the poorest in the world. India’s coal question is also critical for domestic reasons so that we can meet the twin objectives of clean air and energy access. This needs us to phase out old and highly inefficient thermal power plants, and to ensure that all the current plants are retrofitted with state-of-the-art technologies to control pollution. The fact is our energy problem is not only coal but our broken distribution system. Today, we use the cheapest and dirtiest raw material for energy generation, but when it is supplied, it becomes one the most expensive in the world. It is also unreliable, and this is also why industry burns coal in small and inefficient boilers and adds to horrendous and toxic local air pollution. This is what must be fixed so that India can be electrified and that this “electricity” is clean — good for combating the climate crisis and local air pollution and provision of energy access to the poorest. Climate crisis is the biggest existential threat that faces our world. This is what is at stake at COP26. Nothing less. Sunita Narain is director general, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi

• Director General Office

World on the line

Reclaiming leadership and voice to rebuild the trust of people — both rich and poor — should top the agenda at Glasgow It's a make-or-break time for the world. When leaders gather in Glasgow, Scotland, for the 26th Conference of the Parties (CoP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), they meet with the recognition that time has run out. Science has already spoken about the dire emergency that stares us in the face; the UN chief has sounded "Code Red for humanity" based on the findings of climate scientists. But we no longer need scientists to tell us this. We can see the devastation in our world — every day there is news about another region that has faced an extreme weather catastrophe. As I write this, my mind is numbed by images from the northern Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand and the southern state of Kerala, where mountains have crashed and lives and homes have been lost. Also Read - The truth and the lies The sheer fury of nature must make us think about what the future will be like and about the crises we must avert at all costs. CoP26 — meeting as it is, though delayed by a year due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic — has the task to rework its own agenda and functioning. But the fact is negotiations on climate change are going nowhere. If you read the papers prepared by the secretariat of UNFCCC, you would understand that these are written by people from another planet. Over the past few decades, climate negotiations have been ossified to such an extent that they have kind of lost their purpose. A myriad of committees, institutions and funds have been set up purportedly to manage climate change — but this maze is just full of papers and wordage. You could say that the impacts of climate change have outgrown the global institutions, or that these institutions have become detached from reality. This is why the negotiations are lost in fights over commas, full stops and other punctuations, and discussions and decision papers that make no sense to even most negotiators. They have literally become meaningless. Also Read - Simmering tensions CoP26's top agenda should be to reclaim its leadership and voice to rebuild the trust of people — both rich and poor. This means making the agenda for action clearer and much more focused on what needs to be done — now, not even tomorrow. The first step is to lose the endless process, which turns everything into nothing. This is not about taking climate negotiations out of the UN. In fact, I believe such negotiations demand multilateralism, which requires global institutions to be in the lead. But these negotiations, which are now behind the crisis, must shape up and take charge. They must build trust and be sharply focused on what needs to be achieved; by whom; and how. They must also hold the powerful polluters to account; not just bully the poor into submission. Also Read - Custodians of faith Second, there is a desperate need to front-load action on mitigation — to plan for 2030, and to ensure that China, which will occupy 30 per cent of the already-shrunk carbon budget between 2020 and 2030, is in the spotlight. China is yesterday's USA and it is important to speak truth to this power. Then there is a need to discuss the remaining carbon budget, necessary to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius, and how it should be allocated — not just appropriated. We cannot have an ambitious agreement unless it is equitable. So, COP26 must not repeat the mistakes of the past by trying to erase equity and climate justice. Also Read - Setting priorities right The Paris Agreement may be lauded by rich countries because it managed to expunge any mention of historical emissions; it may be celebrated because it said that any discussion on loss and damage cannot be seen as a way to affix liability or to demand compensation; it may be the best treaty achieved because it allowed countries to set low and inadequate national targets and because it did nothing to finance adaptation or mitigation. But it does not matter. In five years, events have overtaken the Paris Agreement. The fact is that the carbon budget of the world has been appropriated by a few countries and only crumbs are available for the rest of the world. This part of the world will need to exercise its right to development and in the process will exceed the available budget. This means all will be at risk in an interdependent world. We know countries like India must not make the same mistakes that the already rich have made. The world needs to secure pathways for low-carbon growth and to pay for this transformation in the still-developing world. Finger-pointing and shaming the emerging world for future and inevitable emissions will cut no ice with them. At CoP26, we need to confront the reality of this inequity and ensure that it is addressed. Third is the agenda for "how" this will happen. The availability of finance must be made transparent and measurable — it will help overcome the trust deficit. So, it is not just the scale of finance that has to be discussed and agreed upon, its rules must also be made so that this fund transfer can be counted and verified. It is not enough to preach the need for transparency; there is a need to act on it. The "how" agenda is also connected to the discussions on markets — Article 6 of the Paris Agreement — which is on the table at CoP26. The current effort is to find smart and cheap ways to build a market instrument that will reduce the cost of carbon purchase from the developing world. A repeat of the complicated, convoluted and cheap Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) must not be allowed again. The reality is this time, unlike when the Kyoto Protocol's CDM was finalised, all countries have to take on emission reduction targets. Therefore, there is no reason any country should agree to "trade" and "sell" their cheap options for carbon abatement. This must be done through climate finance for transition. The market should be used for transformational action so that projects that will bring "big bang" carbon reductions can be paid through this instrument. The market must be driven by public policy and intent, and not left to discover new scams in the name of carbon offsets. This is also where discussions on nature-based solutions, or REDD+, must be firmly rooted. We must not miss the wood for the trees—literally in this case. There is an opportunity to use the ecological wealth of poor countries and communities for mitigation as trees and natural ecosystems sequester carbon dioxide. So, this should not be viewed as carbon sticks but as opportunities for livelihoods and the economic well-being of the poor. The rules for carbon offsets for forests must be developed with this in mind—deliberately and with statecraft. All this then brings the world to the discussions on adaptation and loss and damage—completely lost in the multiplicity of institutions, committees, funds, and all without any money or impact in the real world. This agenda needs to be rescued desperately—just try and make sense of the technical paper to measure the progress on the Global Adaptation Goal and you will understand what I am saying. The elephant in the room (that we would like not to discuss) is finance—this is where the discussions must be on adaptation and on loss and damage. We do not need rocket science to calculate the crippling losses being suffered by countries and communities because of climate change-induced extreme weather events. This is why COP26 must not be lost to prevarication in negotiations and to pusillanimous leaders. Let's hope that this COP stands out and is counted as different. It is the order of our times. DTE The writer is the Director-General of CSE and editor of DownToEarth. Views expressed are personal http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/the-truth-and-the-lies-457495?infinitescroll=1

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), releases the latest analysis of air quality data for Delhi-NCR

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), releases the latest analysis of air quality data for Delhi-NCR

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

Why You Must Brace For Peak Of Farm Fire Impact

New Delhi: An analysis of data from the Union earth science’s forecasting body System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) determined that the share of stubble burning in Delhi’s PM2.5 is highest between October 29 and November 15. The data shows that the highest proportion of farm-fire emissions in Delhi’s PM2.5 level on a single day was 58% in 2018, 44% in 2019 and 42% in 2020. During the peak season, the single-day contribution varies between 20% and 30%. This year, the highest single-day share of stubble burning has been 15%, said SAFAR. It has mostly remained below 5% due to rain. Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) on Tuesday was 139 in the ‘moderate’ category and the contribution of stubble burning was measured at 8%. SAFAR started calculating the share of stubble burning in the PM2.5 pollutants in 2018 using indigenous technology. Its data shows the maximum effect of stubble burning is a single-day share of 58%, but the marks above 30% isn’t too consistent in a season. There were two days in 2020 when the contribution of smoke to Delhi’s PM2.5 concentration touched 40% or above. In 2019 and 2018, there were just one day each. Last year, the maximum share of farm fire emission in the city air was 40% and 42% in the 62 days of the harvesting season. Similarly, 2020 saw five days when the 24-hour share of stubble burning was between 31% and 39%, but only two such days each in 2019 and 2018. Congratulations! You have successfully cast your vote SAFAR’s founder project director Gufran Beig said, “The contribution of stubble burning to PM2.5 pollution fluctuates. The higher number of farm fires does not necessarily mean a more severe impact.” He explained that factors determining the adverse effect of farm fires to the city’s poor air quality included speed of transport wind and wind direction. The transport height had to be above surface level and wind should be blowing from the burning sites towards Delhi. Besides, calm local conditions also play an important role because they cause accumulation of pollutants released from stubble burning. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, said, “The ground report from Punjab and Haryana suggests that farmers couldn’t burn the harvest remnants earlier due to rain and they are likely to incinerate the stubble in the first week of November. Strong preventive action to check such burning is required from authorities concerned.”

• Climate Change and Green Economy

Expect India to pitch 450GW renewable energy target in Glasgow: Alok Sharma

Alok Sharma, the COP26 president, said India’s informal goal of 450GW should be formalised in its NDC before the UN climate change talks get underway in Glasgow on October 31 Just days before a major UN-led summit on climate change opens in Glasgow, Alok Sharma, the president of the event popularly known as COP26, said he expects India to present its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) at the talks with a 450GW renewable energy target by 2030 incorporated in it. Saying that every country starts with a different energy mix, Sharma added that India’s informal goal of 450GW should be formalised in its NDC before the COP26 gets underway on October 31. “That is what I told Indian officials and ministers when I was there,” said Sharma at a virtual press conference organised on Tuesday by Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of journalists and newsrooms to produce more informed and urgent climate change stories. HT is a part of the initiative. The COP26 annual summit on climate change action is also called the United Nations Climate Change Conference. There is no confirmation on what India’s submission at COP26 is likely to be. At an informal briefing on COP26 to select journalists last week, officials said details related to the submission and stance are yet to be approved by the union Cabinet. These decisions are taken at the highest level and have to be passed by the Cabinet before they are announced,” said an official. Officials have not commented on whether India will present an updated NDC. In response to a question about the depleting carbon budget and if he sees developed countries taking up advanced net zero targets, Sharma said it’s an issue that was raised when he was in New Delhi. “The CBDR (Common But Differentiated Responsibilities) is part of the Paris Agreement. My consistent message to every country is that we all need to play our part. I am impressed with the target of 450GW. What I want is that should reflect in the NDC.” Over 120 world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are expected to attend the summit on November 1 and 2. Sharma said Chinese President Xi Jinping has not confirmed his presence, but a Chinese negotiating team will be present in Glasgow. Sharma said Glasgow will be more challenging than Paris. “Our overarching ambition is to say at the end of Glasgow that we have kept [the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming preferably to] 1.5 degrees Celsius alive,” Sharma said. He said an agreement is likely at the end of Glasgow on how the world will keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius. “Glasgow will be the biggest event for the UK since the 2012 Olympics, but there is the added complexity of looking to reach an agreement with 200 parties,” he said. Sharma underlined the need to bend the curve towards 2 degrees Celsius. “But it is still not what the Paris Agreement said. If all the commitments made are not well below 2 degrees Celsius, then we have to reflect on how in this decade we need to come back and reappraise the commitments that have been made. Again, we have to build consensus around this. We have to look to reach some agreement.” A 14-15 member delegation with officials from the ministries of power, finance, earth sciences, agriculture, new and renewable energy, environment, and water will represent India at COP26. Environment minister Bhupender Yadav will head the Indian delegation. PM Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are expected to make a joint statement on a mission dubbed “Green Grids Initiative - One Sun One World One Grid (GGI-OSOWOG)” at COP26. he GGI-OSOWOG project will bring technical, financial, and research cooperation to help facilitate cross-border renewable energy transfer projects as part of the International Solar Alliance. Yadav is expected to lead India during the negotiations in the second week of COP26 when issues related to the Paris rulebook are likely to be deliberated. The rulebook is a set of guidelines for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement. Officials have maintained it is not mandatory for India to update its NDC. “It can update it during the global stocktake in 2023. Whatever India announces will be on a voluntary basis,” said an official, requesting anonymity. “Developed countries have been pushing India to announce a net zero emissions target. But for us, our position is clear. Action has to be taken based on historical responsibility, which means they (developed countries) transition to net zero emissions first, leaving the carbon space for us to grow.” India is expected to push for climate change justice, and equity and contribution based on historical responsibility during negotiations with a similar stand as that of 24 other like-minded developing countries, including China. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has announced plans to reach net zero emissions by 2060. The UAE became the first Gulf nation to commit to net zero emissions by 2050. Russia and China have also announced plans to transition to net zero by 2060. According to the UN, 130 countries have set or are considering a net zero emissions target by mid-century. Centre for Science and Environment director general Sunita Narain said India should announce an enhanced NDC, not because of its responsibility or contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions, but because it is in the country’s best interest. “For us, climate action is for co-benefit,” Narain said. World Resources Institute director Ulka Kelkar said India is entitled to carbon space, but can consider a suitable target year for net zero CO2 emissions. “India is already putting in place the building blocks of a net zero future, such as scaling up renewable energy and investing in green hydrogen. Over time, it can also consider adding a carbon tax and retiring old inefficient thermal power plants, which will yield economic gains and health benefits.”

• Clean Air & Sustainable Mobility

South MCD has vehicles to fight pollution, but no drivers

There is a shortage of over 40 drivers for vehicles like water tankers, jetting machines, garbage picking vehicles and mechanical diggers, said standing committee chairperson B K Oberoi. The number of these vehicles is around 150. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation is “fighting a war against pollution without guns” — the standing committee observed — after it was informed that there is a shortage of drivers leading to several vehicles being halted for months. There is a shortage of over 40 drivers for vehicles like water tankers, jetting machines, garbage picking vehicles and mechanical diggers, said standing committee chairperson B K Oberoi. The number of these vehicles is around 150. The issue was brought up during the standing committee meeting of the South MCD Tuesday by BJP councillor Poonam Bhati, who said that the corporation is facing a shortage of drivers. “Twenty vehicles remain stationed in offices of SDMC in Amar Colony, Lajpat Nagar and other areas,” said Bhati. “The shortage is for a year, and I have been raising the issue for two months now,” Bhati added. This situation led to Oberoi pulling up officials, saying, “Now there will be a rise in pollution, how are you prepared, you all know that you do not have drivers, you are fighting a war without guns.” Later, he said that the civic body is somehow managing with its current strength but a lack of funds is also coming in the way of hiring more manpower. “Many people retired, some passed away but there was no hiring,” he said. The air quality in Delhi worsens during the month of October and November due to the effect of stubble burning combined with vehicular pollution and other external factors. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Researching (SAFAR) has said that the impact of farm fires on Delhi’s air quality is likely to increase from October 27 due to the favourable speed and direction of winds from Punjab and Haryana and slim chances of rainfall. While Delhi has enjoyed a relatively cleaner pre-winter period (September 1-October 15) this year as compared to previous years, as per an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment, experts attributed this to the extended rainfall as well as the delayed paddy harvest in Punjab and Haryana. With paddy stubble burning expected to rise in the next few days, pollution levels are also expected to go up.

• Climate Change and Green Economy

उम्मीद है कि भारत ग्लासगो में 450GW अक्षय ऊर्जा लक्ष्य को पूरा करेगा: आलोक शर्मा

ग्लासगो में जलवायु परिवर्तन पर संयुक्त राष्ट्र के नेतृत्व वाले एक प्रमुख शिखर सम्मेलन के कुछ ही दिन पहले, COP26 के नाम से लोकप्रिय कार्यक्रम के अध्यक्ष आलोक शर्मा ने कहा कि उन्हें उम्मीद है कि भारत 450GW अक्षय ऊर्जा के साथ वार्ता में अपना राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर निर्धारित योगदान (NDC) पेश करेगा। इसमें 2030 तक का लक्ष्य शामिल किया गया है। यह कहते हुए कि हर देश एक अलग ऊर्जा मिश्रण से शुरू होता है, शर्मा ने कहा कि भारत के 450GW के अनौपचारिक लक्ष्य को 31 अक्टूबर को COP26 शुरू होने से पहले अपने NDC में औपचारिक रूप दिया जाना चाहिए। शर्मा ने मंगलवार को कवरिंग क्लाइमेट न्यूज़ द्वारा आयोजित एक वर्चुअल प्रेस कॉन्फ्रेंस में कहा, “जब मैं वहां था, तब मैंने भारतीय अधिकारियों और मंत्रियों से यही कहा था।” एचटी पहल का एक हिस्सा है। जलवायु परिवर्तन कार्रवाई पर COP26 वार्षिक शिखर सम्मेलन को संयुक्त राष्ट्र जलवायु परिवर्तन सम्मेलन भी कहा जाता है। COP26 में भारत के सबमिशन के क्या होने की संभावना है, इस पर कोई पुष्टि नहीं हुई है। पिछले सप्ताह चुनिंदा पत्रकारों के लिए COP26 पर एक अनौपचारिक ब्रीफिंग में, अधिकारियों ने कहा कि प्रस्तुत करने और रुख से संबंधित विवरण को केंद्रीय मंत्रिमंडल द्वारा अनुमोदित किया जाना बाकी है। यह भी पढ़ें: भारत को 2020 में जलवायु आपदाओं से 87 अरब डॉलर का नुकसान: रिपोर्ट एक अधिकारी ने कहा, “ये फैसले उच्चतम स्तर पर लिए जाते हैं और इन्हें घोषित करने से पहले कैबिनेट द्वारा पारित किया जाना चाहिए।” अधिकारियों ने इस पर कोई टिप्पणी नहीं की है कि क्या भारत एक अद्यतन एनडीसी पेश करेगा। घटते कार्बन बजट के बारे में एक सवाल के जवाब में और अगर वह विकसित देशों को उन्नत शुद्ध शून्य लक्ष्य लेते हुए देखते हैं, तो शर्मा ने कहा कि यह एक ऐसा मुद्दा है जिसे तब उठाया गया था जब वह नई दिल्ली में थे। “सीबीडीआर (कॉमन बट डिफरेंशियल रिस्पॉन्सिबिलिटीज) पेरिस समझौते का हिस्सा है। हर देश को मेरा लगातार संदेश यह है कि हम सभी को अपनी भूमिका निभाने की जरूरत है। मैं 450GW के लक्ष्य से प्रभावित हूं। मैं जो चाहता हूं वह एनडीसी में प्रतिबिंबित होना चाहिए।” भारतीय प्रधान मंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी सहित 120 से अधिक विश्व नेताओं के 1 और 2 नवंबर को शिखर सम्मेलन में भाग लेने की उम्मीद है। शर्मा ने कहा कि चीनी राष्ट्रपति शी जिनपिंग ने अपनी उपस्थिति की पुष्टि नहीं की है, लेकिन ग्लासगो में एक चीनी वार्ता दल मौजूद रहेगा। शर्मा ने कहा कि ग्लासगो पेरिस से ज्यादा चुनौतीपूर्ण होगा। “हमारी व्यापक महत्वाकांक्षा ग्लासगो के अंत में यह कहना है कि हमने रखा है [the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming preferably to] 1.5 डिग्री सेल्सियस जिंदा, ”शर्मा ने कहा। उन्होंने कहा कि ग्लासगो के अंत में एक समझौता होने की संभावना है कि दुनिया ग्लोबल वार्मिंग को 1.5 डिग्री सेल्सियस के नीचे कैसे रखेगी। “ग्लासगो 2012 ओलंपिक के बाद से यूके के लिए सबसे बड़ा आयोजन होगा, लेकिन 200 पार्टियों के साथ एक समझौते पर पहुंचने की अतिरिक्त जटिलता है,” उन्होंने कहा। यह भी पढ़ें: CoP 26 की बैठक से पहले: बातचीत की रणनीति शर्मा ने वक्र को 2 डिग्री सेल्सियस की ओर मोड़ने की आवश्यकता को रेखांकित किया। “लेकिन यह अभी भी वह नहीं है जो पेरिस समझौते ने कहा था। यदि किए गए सभी वादे 2 डिग्री सेल्सियस से कम नहीं हैं, तो हमें इस पर विचार करना होगा कि इस दशक में हमें वापस आने और किए गए प्रतिबद्धताओं को फिर से लागू करने की आवश्यकता है। फिर से, हमें इसके इर्द-गिर्द आम सहमति बनानी होगी। हमें किसी समझौते पर पहुंचने के लिए देखना होगा।” बिजली, वित्त, पृथ्वी विज्ञान, कृषि, नवीन और नवीकरणीय ऊर्जा, पर्यावरण और जल मंत्रालयों के अधिकारियों के साथ 14-15 सदस्यीय प्रतिनिधिमंडल सीओपी26 में भारत का प्रतिनिधित्व करेगा। भारतीय प्रतिनिधिमंडल की अध्यक्षता पर्यावरण मंत्री भूपेंद्र यादव करेंगे. पीएम नरेंद्र मोदी और ब्रिटिश प्रधान मंत्री बोरिस जॉनसन से COP26 में “ग्रीन ग्रिड इनिशिएटिव – वन सन वन वर्ल्ड वन ग्रिड (GGI-OSOWOG)” नामक एक मिशन पर एक संयुक्त बयान देने की उम्मीद है। GGI-OSOWOG परियोजना अंतर्राष्ट्रीय सौर गठबंधन के हिस्से के रूप में सीमा पार अक्षय ऊर्जा हस्तांतरण परियोजनाओं को सुविधाजनक बनाने में मदद करने के लिए तकनीकी, वित्तीय और अनुसंधान सहयोग लाएगी। सीओपी26 के दूसरे सप्ताह में वार्ता के दौरान यादव के भारत का नेतृत्व करने की उम्मीद है, जब पेरिस नियम पुस्तिका से संबंधित मुद्दों पर विचार-विमर्श होने की संभावना है। नियम पुस्तिका 2015 पेरिस समझौते को लागू करने के लिए दिशानिर्देशों का एक समूह है। अधिकारियों ने कहा है कि भारत के लिए अपने एनडीसी को अपडेट करना अनिवार्य नहीं है। एक अधिकारी ने नाम न छापने का अनुरोध करते हुए कहा, “यह 2023 में वैश्विक स्टॉकटेक के दौरान इसे अपडेट कर सकता है। भारत जो कुछ भी घोषणा करेगा वह स्वैच्छिक आधार पर होगा।” “विकसित देश भारत को शुद्ध शून्य उत्सर्जन लक्ष्य की घोषणा करने के लिए प्रेरित कर रहे हैं। लेकिन हमारे लिए हमारी स्थिति स्पष्ट है। ऐतिहासिक जिम्मेदारी के आधार पर कार्रवाई की जानी है, जिसका अर्थ है कि वे (विकसित देश) पहले शुद्ध शून्य उत्सर्जन में संक्रमण करते हैं, जिससे हमारे लिए कार्बन स्पेस बढ़ जाता है। ” भारत से अपेक्षा की जाती है कि वह चीन सहित 24 अन्य समान विचारधारा वाले विकासशील देशों के समान रुख के साथ बातचीत के दौरान जलवायु परिवर्तन न्याय, और इक्विटी और ऐतिहासिक जिम्मेदारी के आधार पर योगदान पर जोर देगा। दुनिया के सबसे बड़े तेल निर्यातक सऊदी अरब ने 2060 तक शुद्ध शून्य उत्सर्जन तक पहुंचने की योजना की घोषणा की है। संयुक्त अरब अमीरात 2050 तक शुद्ध शून्य उत्सर्जन करने वाला पहला खाड़ी देश बन गया है। रूस और चीन ने भी 2060 तक शुद्ध शून्य में संक्रमण की योजना की घोषणा की है। संयुक्त राष्ट्र के अनुसार, 130 देशों ने सदी के मध्य तक शुद्ध शून्य उत्सर्जन लक्ष्य निर्धारित किया है या उन पर विचार कर रहे हैं। विज्ञान और पर्यावरण केंद्र की महानिदेशक सुनीता नारायण ने कहा कि भारत को ग्रीनहाउस गैस उत्सर्जन में अपनी जिम्मेदारी या योगदान के कारण नहीं, बल्कि इसलिए कि यह देश के सर्वोत्तम हित में है, एक उन्नत एनडीसी की घोषणा करनी चाहिए। “हमारे लिए, जलवायु कार्रवाई सह-लाभ के लिए है,” नारायण ने कहा। विश्व संसाधन संस्थान के निदेशक उल्का केलकर ने कहा कि भारत कार्बन स्पेस का हकदार है, लेकिन शुद्ध शून्य CO2 उत्सर्जन के लिए एक उपयुक्त लक्ष्य वर्ष पर विचार कर सकता है। “भारत पहले से ही एक शुद्ध शून्य भविष्य के निर्माण खंड स्थापित कर रहा है, जैसे कि अक्षय ऊर्जा को बढ़ाना और हरित हाइड्रोजन में निवेश करना। समय के साथ, यह कार्बन टैक्स जोड़ने और पुराने अक्षम थर्मल पावर प्लांटों को सेवानिवृत्त करने पर भी विचार कर सकता है, जिससे आर्थिक लाभ और स्वास्थ्य लाभ मिलेगा। Continue reading at 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