Milestones in mitigation
In part one of this two-part article on ‘Mitigation and Adaptation Measures in Managing Climate Change’, the writer sheds light on the climate discussions that have focused on mitigation since COP1 in 1995, which will be followed by a discussion on adaptation measures in the second part
Ever since the beginning of the global negotiations on climate change in the first Conference of Parties (COP) in Bonn in 1995, mitigation issues have dominated the discussions. This was understandable because all countries first wanted to understand various aspects of emissions and what was needed to reduce such emissions. As a result, the initial conferences were focused on reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, which led to the Kyoto Protocol in the third Conference of Parties held in Kyoto in 1997. We may recall that the onus of emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol was on Annex-I or developed countries. Adaptation issues were first addressed directly in the sixth Conference of Parties in The Hague and Bonn in 2000, when the Global Environment Facility (GEF) was formed and three funds under the GEF, namely Climate Change Fund, Adaptation Fund, and LDC Fund were launched to address adaptation needs of developing countries. Adaptation issues also got traction in the Third Assessment Report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2001.
As the negotiations under various Conferences proceeded, the divide between developed and developing countries was clear. The developed countries wanted to focus on mitigation issues alone and wanted developing countries also to make binding commitments on emissions reductions. Developing countries, on the other hand, emphasised the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and refused to take any binding commitments; they instead emphasised the adaptation aspects as much as mitigation aspects.
In this two-part article, we will review the various important issues related to mitigation and adaptation. In Part I, we will discuss mitigation issues and Part II will cover adaptation Issues.
Mitigation issues
The first ten COPs were all about getting the Kyoto Protocol ratified. From the COP11 onwards, the conference began focusing on future planning and new ways to curb emissions, while the implementation of Kyoto Protocol was discussed in the Meeting of the Parties (MOP). All COPs continued discussions on what a post-Kyoto action plan would look like. In the seventeenth COP in 2011, the idea of ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ or NDCs was first floated by India and China. These became the centrepiece of the Paris Agreement signed in 2015, whereby all countries made their own calculations and came up with NDCs, which were nothing but commitments to cut emissions. The Paris Agreement also included the time within which each country would become ‘net-zero’, i.e. when the net emissions would reach zero.
All these discussions were focused on mitigation, which involved a shift in the social and economic policies across sectors in all countries. Reducing emissions to the point when a country becomes ‘net-zero’ involves changes in the following broad areas:
- Manufacturing and industry: This requires a shift to more energy efficient processes as well as those which move away from fossil fuels. Within this, the cement, steel and fertiliser industry pose the most difficult challenge and are referred to as ‘hard to abate.’ sectors.
- Renewable energy: This requires a shift away from coal energy to sources such as solar and wind energy. Since solar and wind energy cannot provide a 24x7 base load, other techniques to store electricity must also be explored. This takes us to battery storage and innovative schemes such as Pumped Water Projects.
- Agriculture and allied sectors: This would require a shift to practices that use natural fertilizers and improve soil productivity. Furthermore, drought resistant varieties of crops would need to be used. In the Animal Husbandry sector, this would mean an increased use of fodder that minimises methane production in cattle.
- Transportation: A shift to electric vehicles as well as easy availability of batteries would be needed to move away from petrol and diesel-driven vehicles.
If we were to simplify the mitigation challenges before us: 1) we would need to convert all activities and processes so that they can run on electricity, and 2) all electricity should be sourced from non-fossil fuel sources.
The writer is Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Mass Education Extension and Library Services and Department of Cooperation, Government of West Bengal
