The questions that CoP-27 must answer to ensure climate justice

Source: The post is based on an article “The questions that CoP-27 must answer to ensure climate justice” published in Live Mint on 8^th November 2022.

Syllabus: GS 3- Climate Change

News: The 2022 United Nations Conference on Climate Change also known as CoP-27 (the UN’s 27th Conference of the Parties) has begun. It will discuss the issue of climate change and measures to mitigate it.

What are the reasons behind climate change?

Climate change is caused by concentration of greenhouse gases from human activity.

The current atmospheric concentration of CO2 is mostly a result of past emissions from the developed countries. They argue that there was insufficient awareness or scientific knowledge about the harmful effects of burning fossil fuels.

Therefore, they shouldn’t be held accountable for it and focus should be made on future actions to control climate change. However, it is a misleading statement as past and future actions go hand in hand.

How can developed countries help other emerging countries in reducing the impact on climate?

First, developed countries should provide creative, constructive and fair support to the emerging countries to move from fossil fuel-based energy emission to renewables.

Second, developed countries should provide required financial resources on affordable terms to developing countries to recover from the impact of climate change and adapt themselves to mitigate future challenges.

Third, developed countries should focus on helping developing countries moving to non-fossil fuel-based energy. Some of the ways of providing resources are – supporting labour employed in the fossil fuel-based industries, skilling them for the jobs for green economy, providing rare earths and technology, etc.

What can be the course of action?

Efforts are needed from both developed countries and developing countries to mitigate climate change.

Developed countries can focus on changing lifestyles that impact the climate least whereas developing countries can focus on adopting non fossil fuel-based technologies.

Therefore, a proper balance is required between mitigating the past emission and adopting technologies for future.