Cement, Energy and Environment

climate change will not be as substantial as traditionally understood. "Ambitious mitigation would reduce growth by about 0.06 percentage points of GOP in a year. This estimate doesn't take into account the benefits that would be derived from lower carbon emissions such as improved local air quality and health," said Ottomar Edenhofer, co-chair of the Working Group Ill. There were concerns however that political divide between the rich industrialized countries and the developing countries, which had for long impeded a concerted global action on climate change had adversely affected the IPCC's report for policy makers. "The report skirts the contentious issues. Ideally it should have come strong on technology and funds transfer," said Shreekant Gupta of Delhi University and the co-ordinating lead author for the chapter on integrated risk and uncertainity. This disappointment aside, Gupta stresses that the Indian government must prioritise adaptation and take the co-benefit approach to climate. "Focus has to be on renewables and sustainable transport, that will reduce our consumption of oil, for which we are highly dependent on foreign imports. This will be good for the country, economically and reduce emissions as well ," he said . To ensure that global mean temperature doesn't rise beyond 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, investment in the energy sector will need to move from conventional technologies based on fossil fuel power plants to low carbon options such as renewable sources and nuclear energy. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 14.04.2014, Pg. No. 14 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT CAN BE AVERTED; NATIONS NEED TO ACT FAST: IPCC Unseasonal rains, freak snowstorms and droughts because of global warming may be becoming the new normal but now the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its recent report has offered a glimmer of hope. The severe impacts of climate change can be avoided or minimized provided countries act collectively and quickly. Besides, it will not cost the earth to save the earth. Efforts to reduce carbon emissions would have minimal impact on growth-0.06 per cent of GOP. However, there is a caveat , countries must act soon-climate scientists, economists and social scientists say there is a two-decade window to work towards limiting worldwide temperature increase to less than 2 degree Celsius, from pre– industrial levels, by the end of the century. "The high-speed mitigation train would have to leave the station soon and all of global society would need to get on board," IPCC Chairman, RK Pachauri said. "Effective mitigation won't be achieved if individual agents advance their own agenda independently. This brings out the need for international cooperation." Since 2007, there has been an increase in efforts to limit emissions. In 2012, 67 per cent of the greenhouse emissions were subject to national laws and efforts compared to 45 per cent in 2007. But there has been a dramatic rise in emissions-population and economic growth remain the main causes. The IPCC is of the view that the pledged em1ss1on reductions under the Cancun agreements will not get us to the 2 degrees Celsius mark and much more needs to be done. The loss to economic growth on account of measures taken to address climate change will not be as substantial as traditionally understood. "Ambitious mitigation would reduce growth by about 0.06 percentage points of GDP in a year. This estimate doesn't take into account the benefits that would be derived from lower carbon emissions such as improved local air quality and health," said Ottomar Edenhofer, co-chair of IPCC's Working Group Ill. For India, which is aiming for a high (8 per cent plus) growth path and improvement in the lives of the millions who continue to live in poverty, the report has another important message. It recognizes upfront that sustainable development and equity have to be the basis for climate policy. It also accepts that climate pol icy intersects with other goals related to health , food security, poverty eradication, environmental quality and energy access. "This is an important message for Ind ia– policies that address cl imate change don't need to have development at its cross hair," said Navroz Dubash, senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research and the lead author on national and sub– national policies for the IPCC report. Industrial growth wi ll be an important plank of India's economic recovery. "Globally, 25 per cent of the emissions is from industry. These can be reduced by deploying best practices and technology, 3\