Are you kidding, India? Your last-minute Glasgow intervention won’t relieve pressure to ditch coal

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 05:48:49 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/are-you-kidding-india-your-last-minute-glasgow-intervention-wont-relieve-pressure-to-ditch-coal-171809>

"As the United Nations climate summit opened in Glasgow, India’s Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had a surprise positive announcement: a big net-zero target. The
world cheered at the planet’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter getting on
board with net-zero, and the move made global headlines.

Fast forward to the final tense hours of COP26, and India almost derailed the
talks. It demanded a key commitment in the Glasgow agreement be watered down:
that a pledge to “phase out” coal be weakened to just “phase down” the fossil
fuel.

China supported India’s holdout. The controversy cast a long shadow over the
Glasgow agreement, which was already shaping as too weak to keep global warming
below 1.5℃ this century. The world – including India – needs to phase out coal
by 2040 if that warming goal is to be met, and India’s government is kidding
itself to think the Glasgow intervention will make that problem vanish.

India should not consider itself off the hook. Rather than slow the decline in
coal use, India has ensured it and other coal-intensive nations, including
Australia, will be under even greater global pressure to ditch coal."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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