Climate Change

Statement 1 is correct. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is a mechanism developed by Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Statement 2 is correct. It creates a financial value for the carbon stored in forests by offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. Developing countries would receive results-based payments for results-based actions.

Tarballs are small light-absorbing, carbonaceous particles formed due to burning of biomass or fossil fuels that deposit on snow and ice. Tarballs are formed from brown carbon, emitted during the burning of fossil fuels.
They also form when crude oil floats on the ocean surface. Tarballs are formed by weathering of crude oil in marine environments.

Statement 1 is correct. Carbon neutrality means having a balance between
emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks. Sometimes
entities fund the equivalent amount of carbon savings elsewhere in the world to achieve
neutrality.
Statement 2 is incorrect. India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)
are:
— To reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 33%–35% by 2030 below 2005 levels;
— To increase the share of non-fossil-based energy resources to 40% of installed electric
power capacity by 2030, with help of transfer of technology and low-cost international
finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF);
— To create an additional (cumulative) carbon sink of 2.5–3 GtCO2e through additional
forest and tree cover by 2030.

Statement 1 is correct. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was set up by the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010.
Statement 2 is correct. GCF’s investments are aimed at achieving maximum impact in the
developing world, supporting paradigm shifts in both mitigation and adaptation. The Fund
aims for a 50:50 balance between mitigation and adaptation investments over time.
It also aims for a floor of 50 percent of the adaptation allocation for particularly vulnerable
countries, including Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States
(SIDS), and African States.

Statement 1 is correct. Accelerating CCUS Technologies (ACT) is an
initiative to facilitate the emergence of CO2 Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) via
transnational funding of projects aimed at accelerating and maturing CCUS technology
through targeted innovation and research activities.
ACT is an ERA NET Cofund, which is a tool established by the European Commission
under the Horizon 2020 programme for research and innovation.
Statement 2 is correct. The ACT members are funding agencies from: The Alberta province
in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the
Nordic Region, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, and the USA.
# Department of Science & Technology (DST) recently invited proposals from Indian
researchers in the area of Carbon Capture, Utilisation & Storage (CCUS) under ACT initiative

Statement 1 is correct. The Climate and Clean Air Coalition is a voluntary
partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, scientific
institutions and civil society organizations committed to improving air quality and
protecting the climate through actions to reduce short-lived climate pollutants.
Statement 2 is correct. In 2012, the governments of Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico,
Sweden and the United States, along with the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), came together to initiate efforts to treat short-lived climate pollutants as an urgent
and collective challenge.
The coalition has 70 state partners. India announced it was joining the Climate & Clean Air
Coalition during on 2019 World Environment Day.
India works with Coalition partners to implement National Clean Air Programme,
leveraging the Coalition’s action-oriented partnership platform to help define priority
actions that reduce air pollution and achieve development and climate co-benefits.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution to hold an International Day of
Clean Air for blue skies in 2019. The first International Day of Clean Air for blue skies is being
observed on September 7, 2020.

Statement 1 is correct. The ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework is
a first-of-its-kind assessment framework on climate relevant parameters. Launched in 2019
by MoHUA, the objective is to provide a clear roadmap for Indian cities towards combating
climate change while planning their actions within the city including investments.
The framework has 28 indicators across five categories namely; (i) Energy and Green
Buildings, (ii) Urban Planning, Green Cover & Biodiversity, (iii) Mobility and Air Quality, (iv)
Water Management and (v) Waste Management.
Statement 2 is incorrect. National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) with support from
the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has established the Climate Centre
for Cities. The Centre is implementing the ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework 2.0
and aims to support cities in driving climate actions.

Option 1 is correct. The principal aim of the Montreal Protocol is to protect
the ozone layer by taking measures to control total global production and consumption of
substances that deplete it, with the ultimate objective of their elimination on the basis of
developments in scientific knowledge and technological information.
Option 2 is incorrect. Kyoto Protocol operationalized the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change by committing industrialized countries and economies in
transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in accordance with
agreed individual targets.
Option 3 is incorrect. Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants aims to
eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants.
# The scientific confirmation of the depletion of the ozone layer led to the Vienna Convention
for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, which was adopted and signed by 28 countries, on 22
March 1985. In September 1987, this led to the drafting of The Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
# On 16th September 2009, the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol became the first
treaties in the history of the United Nations to achieve universal ratification.
# The Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer reached
agreement at their 28th Meeting of the Parties on 15 October 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda to
phase-down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

The Environment Ministerial Meeting (EMM) of the G20 countries took
place recently through video conferencing under the Presidency of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Global Initiative to reduce Land Degradation and Coral Reef program under the
G20 aims to strengthen the implementation of existing frameworks to prevent, halt, and
reverse land degradation within G20 member states and globally, taking into account
possible implications on the achievement of other SDGs and adhering to the principle of
doing no harm.
The Global Coral Reef R&D Accelerator Platform is an innovative action-oriented
initiative aimed at creating a global research and development (R&D) program to advance
research, innovation and capacity building in all facets of coral reef conservation,
restoration, and adaptation, and strengthen ongoing efforts and commitments made to
enhance coral reefs conservation and their further degradation.

All of the above are India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)
under Paris Agreement.
India’s national climate action plans, known in UN parlance as nationally determined
contributions (NDCs), under the Paris Agreement set three major goals—
-To reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 33%–35% by 2030 below 2005 levels.
-To increase the share of non-fossil-based energy resources to 40% of installed electric
power capacity by 2030, with help of transfer of technology and low-cost international
finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF).
-To create an additional (cumulative) carbon sink of 2.5–3 GtCO2e through additional
forest and tree cover by 2030.

Statement 1 is correct. Carbon neutrality means having a balance between
emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks. Removing
carbon oxide from the atmosphere and then storing it is known as carbon sequestration. In
order to achieve net zero emissions, all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions will have to be
counterbalanced by carbon sequestration.
Carbon Neutral is also used to describe the state of an entity (such as a company, service,
product or event), where the carbon emissions caused by them have been balanced out by
funding an equivalent amount of carbon savings elsewhere in the world.
Statement 2 is incorrect. Carbon neutrality by 2060 is not one of India’s Intended
Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) under the Paris Agreement. India has pledged
following NDCs:
-To reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 33%–35% by 2030 below 2005 levels;
-To increase the share of non-fossil-based energy resources to 40% of installed electric
power capacity by 2030, with help of transfer of technology and low-cost international
finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF);
-To create an additional (cumulative) carbon sink of 2.5–3 GtCO2e through additional
forest and tree cover by 2030.
# China has recently declared that it aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and
achieve carbon neutrality before 2060

The Global Climate Risk Index 2020 published by Germanwatch analyses
to what extent countries and regions have been affected by impacts of weather-related loss
events (storms, floods, heatwaves etc.).
The Germanwatch Climate Risk Index 2020 is the 15th edition of this annual analysis.
The report mentions that India suffered from one of the longest ever recorded heatwaves in
2018, with hundreds of deaths, when temperatures climbed to up to 48°C. Prolonged
drought and resultant widespread crop failures, compounded by a water shortage, brought
about violent riots and increased migration.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released the annual State of Global Climate Report, 2020 to keep a track of global warming.
The global mean surface temperature for January-October was 1.2 degree Celsius higher than the pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900).
There was heavy rainfall and flooding in many parts of Asia and Africa leading to loss of human lives, property and livelihoods. The most affected were the Sahel and Greater Horn regions of Africa and China, India, Korea and Japan regions of Asia.
South America on the other hand experienced severe droughts with northern Argentina, Paraguay and western areas of Brazil being some of the worst affected. Brazil alone recorded agricultural losses of $3 billion.

The Climate Change Performance Index published by Germanwatch, CAN International and the NewClimate Institute evaluates and compares the climate protection performance of 57 countries and the EU.
Published annually since 2005, the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) tracks countries’ efforts to combat climate change.
The latest Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2021 has placed India among the top 10 countries to have adopted substantial measures to mitigate climate change. The report has ranked India at the 10th position with 63.98 scores.
The index follows the directives led by the 2015 Paris Agreement, established with the goal to limit global warming to well below 2°C or even to 1.5°C. Therefore, CCPI assesses the countries on how much they have worked towards achieving this goal and how the countries are faring with respect to their 2030 targets.

Statement 1 is correct. Black Carbon is produced both naturally and by human activities as a result of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass. Primary sources include emissions from diesel engines, cook stoves, wood burning and forest fires.
Complete combustion would turn all carbon in the fuel into carbon dioxide (CO2), but combustion is never complete and CO2, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and organic carbon and black carbon particles are all formed in the process. The complex mixture of particulate matter resulting from incomplete combustion is often referred to as soot.
Statement 2 is correct. A team of researchers from National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), University of Leipzig, Germany, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur supported by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India under DST Climate Change program have highlighted the crucial role of the aerosol direct radiative effect on high precipitation events over the Himalayan region.
Scientists have found that aerosols like black carbon and dust, which makes the Indo-Gangetic Plain one of the most polluted regions of the world, have led to increased incidents of high rainfall events in the foothills of the Himalayan Region. [Source: PIB]

The United Nations, United Kingdom and France are co-hosting the Climate Ambition Summit 2020, in partnership with Chile and Italy.
The Summit is a major step on the road to the next UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which will be hosted by the UK next November in Glasgow. The Summit provided leaders with a global platform to showcase commitments to tackle climate change which will be under the three pillars of the Paris Agreement: mitigation, adaptation and finance commitments.
India’s Prime Minister stated that India is not only on track to achieve its Paris Agreement targets, but to exceed them beyond expectations. India has reduced its emission intensity by 21% over 2005 levels. Our solar capacity has grown from 2.63 GigaWatts in 2014 to 36 GigaWatts in 2020. Our renewable energy capacity is the fourth largest in the world.
It will reach 175 GigaWatts before 2022. And, India has an even more ambitious target now – 450 GigaWatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

The UNEP Emissions Gap Report provides a yearly review of the difference between where greenhouse emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

–despite a brief dip in carbon dioxide emissions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is still heading for a temperature rise in excess of 3°C this century – far beyond the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C.

–a low-carbon pandemic recovery could cut 25 per cent off the greenhouse emissions expected in 2030, based on policies in place before COVID-19. Such a recovery would far outstrip savings foreseen with the implementation of unconditional Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, and put the world close to the 2°C pathway.

The concept of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) was

enshrined as Principle 7 of the Rio Declaration at the first Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

The declaration states:

• “In view of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, States

have common but differentiated responsibilities.

• The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the

international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their

societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial

resources they command.”

The targets for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol cover

emissions of the six main greenhouse gases, namely:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Methane (CH4)
• Nitrous Oxide (N2O)
• Hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs)
• Per-fluorocarbons (PFCs) and
• Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 64/236 of 24 December 2009,

in which it decided to organize the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development

at the highest possible level in 2012, as well as its resolution 66/197 of 22 December 2011.

• Expresses its profound gratitude to the Government and the people of Brazil for

hosting the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de

Janeiro (RIO+20 summit) from 20 to 22 June 2012, and for providing all the

necessary support.

• Endorses the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable

Development, entitled “The future we want“, annexed to the present resolution.

#FridaysForFuture is a movement that began in August 2018, after 15-

year-old Greta Thunberg and other young activists sat in front of the Swedish

parliament every school day for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the

climate crisis.

• ‘Thunberg’ called for a strike every Friday until the Swedish parliament revised its

policies towards climate change.

• Gradually, students and adults from across the world started mobilising and

demonstrating in front of parliaments and local city halls in their respective

countries.

In the wake of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg’s call for standing up for climate action, students all over the world are heeding her clarion call.

• On Children’s Day, students in Bengaluru and Karnataka are doing their bit for the environment by planting trees.

 Prerana MyTree, an eco-initiative by students from 48,000 government schools across Karnataka will plant about 2.5 lakh trees across the state.

 Prerana MyTree is supported by the state government, the NGO Sikshana Foundation, Dell and Bengaluru-based startup, Eyeris Media.

New Zealand’s Parliament passed The Zero-Carbon Act, which will commit

New Zealand to zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner, as part of the country’s attempts

to meet its Paris climate accord commitments.

• The Act is not a separate legislation but is an amendment to the existing Climate

Change Responses Act, 2002.

• According to the New Zealand government, this is the first legislation in the world to

make a legally binding commitment to living within 1.5 degrees Celsius of global

warming.

The Adaptation Fund (AF) was established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

 It was established under the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and since 2010 has committed funds for localized climate adaptation and resilience activities. Initiatives are based on country needs and priorities.

 AF-funded projects are implemented around the world through accredited National Implementing Entities, Multilateral Implementing Entities and Regional Implementing Entities.

 The original primary source of revenue for the Fund – the sale of Certified Emission Reduction credits through a 2% levy on UN Clean Development Mechanism projects that help meet Kyoto’s emission reduction targets – has drastically diminished due to market forces.

 NABARD has been accredited as National Implementing Entity (NIE) for Adaptation Fund in July 2012 and is the only NIE for India.

 The NIEs are those national legal entities nominated by Parties (to the Kyoto Protocol) that are recognized by the Board as meeting the fiduciary standards established by the Board.

 The NIEs bear full responsibility for the overall management of the projects and programmes financed by the Adaptation Fund and have all financial, monitoring, and reporting responsibilities.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) report, Working on a warmer planet: The impact of heat stress on labour productivity and decent work, Globally two sectors projected to be hit worst are agriculture and construction, with agriculture worse affected.

 The ILO says 940 million people around the world work in the agricultural sector, which is projected to account for 60% of working hours lost due to heat stress by 2030.

 In construction, an estimated 19% of global working hours are likely to be lost.

The CCPI (released by Germanwatch) is an independent monitoring tool of countries’ climate protection performance.

 It aims to enhance transparency in international climate politics and enables the comparability of climate protection efforts and progress made by individual countries.

 The ranking results are defined by a country’s aggregated performance in 14 indicators within the four categories “GHG Emissions”, “Renewable Energy” and “Energy Use”, as well as on “Climate Policy”, in a globally unique policy section of the index.

The international initiative “4 per 1000”, launched by France on 1 December 2015 at the COP 21, consists of federating all voluntary stakeholders of the public and private sectors (national governments, local and regional governments, companies, trade organizations, NGOs, research facilities, etc.) under the framework of the Lima-Paris Action Plan (LPAP).

 The aim of the initiative is to demonstrate that agriculture, and in particular agricultural soils can play a crucial role where food security and climate change are concerned.

 An annual growth rate of 0.4% in the soil carbon stocks, or 4‰ per year, in the first 30-40 cm of soil, would significantly reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere related to human activities.

 This growth rate is not a normative target for each country, but is intended to show that even a small increase in the soil carbon stock (agricultural soils, notably grasslands and pastures, and forest soils) is crucial to improve soil fertility and agricultural production and to contribute to achieving the long-term objective of limiting the temperature increase to the +2°C threshold, beyond which the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) indicates that the effects of climate change are significant.

 The “4 per 1000” initiative is intended to complement those necessary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, globally and generally in the economy as a whole. It is voluntary; it is up to each member to define how they want to contribute to the goals.

Mission 175 is a global platform to explore strategies for development and deployment of renewables.

 It is hosted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the event showcases India‘s renewable energy potential and the Government‘s efforts to scale up capacity to meet the national energy requirement in a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable manner.

 In the year 2015, the Government of India announced a target for 175 GW cumulative renewable power installed capacity by the year 2022.

India is the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic sulphur dioxide, which is produced from coal burning, and greatly contributes to air pollution, a study claimed on August 19.

 According to an analysis of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) data released by environmental NGO Greenpeace on August 2019, India has more than 15% of all anthropogenic sulphur dioxide (SO2) hotspots in the world detected by the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) satellite.

• The major SO2 emission hotspots in India are Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh, Neyveli and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Talcher and Jharsuguda in Odisha, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Kutch in Gujarat, Ramagundam in Telangana and Chandrapur and Koradi in Maharashtra.

 The vast majority of plants in India lack flue-gas desulfurization technology to reduce their air pollution.

 The NASA data also highlights other hotspots across the globe, with the Norilsk smelter complex in Russia being the largest SO2 emission hotspot in the world, followed by Kriel in Mpumalanga province in South Africa and Zagroz in Iran.

 However, as per country-wise world rankings, India was found at the top position in emitting SO2 as it has the maximum hotspots

.

The Global Carbon Project is a Global Research Project of Future Earth and a research partner of the World Climate Research Programme.

 It was formed to work with the international science community to establish a common and mutually agreed knowledge base to support policy debate and action to slow down and ultimately stop the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

 The overwhelming realization that anthropogenic climate change is a reality has focused the attention of the scientific community, policymakers and the general public

on the rising atmospheric concentrations of the main greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).

 The GCP has approached this challenge by focusing comprehensively on the global biogeochemical cycles which govern these three greenhouse gases, including their natural and human drivers, and opportunities for low carbon pathways.

 The scientific goal of the Global Carbon Project is to develop a complete picture of the global carbon cycle, including both its biophysical and human dimensions together with the interactions and feedbacks between them.

The Global Climate Action portal (NAZCA) is an online platform where actors from around the globe – countries, regions, cities, companies, investors and other organizations – can display their commitments to act on climate change.

Launched by UN Climate Change (UNFCCC), Peru and France in 2014, the portal was born of the realization that addressing climate change will take ambitious, broad-based action from all segments of society, public and private.

Race To Zero is a global campaign to rally; leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.

 It mobilizes a coalition of leading net zero initiatives, representing 449 cities, 21 regions, 995 businesses, 38 of the biggest investors, and 505 universities.

 These ‘real economy’ actors join 120 countries in the largest ever alliance committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.

 Collectively these actors now cover nearly 25% global CO2 emissions and over 50% GDP.

 Led by the High-Level Climate Champions for Climate Action – Nigel Topping and Gonzalo Muñoz– Race To Zero mobilizes actors outside of national governments to join the Climate Ambition Alliance, which was launched at the UNSG’s Climate Action Summit 2019 by the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera.

 The objective is to build momentum around the shift to a decarbonized economy ahead of COP26 (UNFCCC), where governments must strengthen their contributions to the Paris Agreement.

 This will send governments a resounding signal that business, cities, regions and investors are united in meeting the Paris goals and creating a more inclusive and resilient economy.

A carbon credit is a tradable permit or certificate that provides the holder of the credit the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide or an equivalent of another greenhouse gas.

 The main goal for the creation of carbon credits is the reduction of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from industrial activities to reduce the effects of global warming.

 Carbon credits are market mechanisms of the minimization of greenhouse gases emission. The introduction of carbon credit was ratified in the Kyoto Protocol.

 The Paris Agreement validates the application of carbon credits to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases and sets the provisions for the further facilitation of the carbon credits markets.

Types of Carbon Credits

There are two types of the carbon credits:

 Voluntary emissions reduction (VER): A carbon offset that is exchanged in the over-the-counter or voluntary market for credits.

 Certified emissions reduction (CER): Emission units (or Carbon credits) created through a regulatory framework with the purpose of offsetting a project’s emission. The main difference between the two is that there is a third party certifying body that regulates the CER as opposed to the VER.

In recent months, climate activists have stepped up efforts to convince travellers to boycott air travel, with Swedish schoolgirl and campaigner Greta Thunberg spearheading the trains-over-planes movement and making “flygskam”, or flight shame, a buzzword in the Scandinavian country.

 The industry has been under fire over its carbon emissions, which at 285 g of CO2 emitted per km travelled by a passenger far exceed all other modes of transport. Road transportation follows at 158 and rail travel is at 14, according to European Environment Agency figures.

 The International Civil Aviation Organization estimates that air transport is responsible for 2% of global CO2 emissions.

• But aircraft also emit particles such as nitrogen oxides, which can trap heat at high altitude, meaning the industry is responsible for 5% of warming, according to the Climate Action Network.

 The industry has committed to improving fuel efficiency by 1.5% per year from 2009 to 2020 and stabilising its CO2 emissions in preparation for a 50% reduction by 2050 compared to 2005.

The use of Bitcoin — a popular virtual currency — emits over 22 megatonnes of carbon dioxide annually, comparable to the total emissions of cities such as Las Vegas and Vienna, a study has found.

 Researchers from Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany carried out a detailed calculation of the carbon footprint of the Bitcoin system.

 For a Bitcoin transfer to be executed and validated, a mathematical puzzle must be solved by an arbitrary computer in the global Bitcoin network. The network, which anyone can join, rewards the puzzle solvers in Bitcoin.

 The computing capacity used in this process — known as Bitcoin mining — has increased rapidly in recent years. Statistics show that it quadrupled in 2018 alone.

• Consequently, the Bitcoin boom raises the question of whether the cryptocurrency is imposing an additional burden on the climate.

 The Bitcoin system has a carbon footprint of between 22 and 22.9 megatonnes per year. That is comparable to the footprint of such cities as Hamburg, Vienna or Las Vegas.

EU leaders will this week discuss setting a target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

 European Union leaders met in Brussels to debate the 2050 target of “climate neutrality” that the environmental group WWF says now has the support of 16 of the EU’s 28 countries.

 “We urgently need to step up our action to manage this existential threat,” a draft of the EU’s strategic agenda for the next six years says.

 “The EU must lead the way, by engaging in an in-depth transformation of its own economy and society to achieve climate neutrality,” according to the draft.

 The draft contained a footnote, saying the wording may be adjusted to reflect the results of the summit debate, which an EU source said would focus on the 2050 target.

 The source said that a number of EU countries want more debate on financing the shift from an economy running on fossil fuels, especially those in eastern Europe, to one driven by clean energy.

The day when a city’s taps dry out and people have to stand in line to collect a daily quota of water.

 Through most of June, this has been the situation in Chennai, one of India’s major cities facing an acute, unprecedented water shortage.

 Many other big cities, including the national capital Delhi, are likely to run out of groundwater by next year, according to India’s policy making body NITI Aayog’s recent assessment.

 In all, 600 million people are facing the worst water crisis in the history of India.

 Adding to the woes is the gloomy prediction that by 2030, the overall demand for water in India will double. “Forty per cent of the population would have no access to drinking water by 2030,” the report warns.

The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) was created in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to develop consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies, banks, and investors in providing information to stakeholders.

 Increasing the amount of reliable information on financial institutions’ exposure to climate-related risks and opportunities will strengthen the stability of the financial system, contribute to greater understanding of climate risks and facilitate financing the transition to a more stable and sustainable economy.

 Following the publication of the final recommendations by FSB’s TCFD in June 2017, UNEP FI began a series of ‘TCFD Pilot Projects’ for banks, investors, and insurers. Participants in these pilots have worked to pioneer practical approaches for the assessment and disclosure of climate risks and opportunities.

NOTE: United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) is a partnership between UNEP and the global financial sector to mobilize private sector finance for sustainable development.

 UNEP FI works with more than 300 members – banks, insurers, and investors – and over 100 supporting institutions – to help create a financial sector that serves people and planet while delivering positive impacts.

 We aim to inspire, inform and enable financial institutions to improve people’s quality of life without compromising that of future generations. By leveraging the UN’s role, UNEP FI accelerates sustainable finance.