Editorial: Between existence and extinction

Accelerated action is essential to close the gap between existing adaptation and what is needed

Hyderabad: There is no Plan(et) B option. The choice is between existence and extinction. It’s virtually a ‘now or never’ situation as humanity faces the unprecedented impact of climate change. The crisis can no longer be ignored nor can the world afford to continue bickering over funding and technology transfers. The latest report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), put together after eight-year-long global efforts analysing the extent of the climate crisis, sends out a dire warning on the catastrophic consequences of global warming and suggests a comprehensive action plan to mitigate the suffering. In order to restrict global warming to the threshold level of 1.5°C, the next few years are very critical as the greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by nearly half and methane cut by a third within this decade. Nations, governments and societies must pull out all stops to ensure changes in policies, infrastructure and technology that are geared towards securing a liveable future. The IPCC 2023 report reads like a litany of broken climate promises by nations; both developed and developing ones. The earth has already warmed by 1.1ºC above the pre-industrial levels. As this relentless warming continues, the planet will witness frequent and intense extreme weather events, devastating the lives of billions of people across the globe. Climate scientists have highlighted the fact that in order to limit global temperatures to under 1.5ºC this century, the emission must halve in this decade.

Almost half of the world’s population lives in regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change. In the last decade, deaths from floods, droughts and storms were 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions. The solution lies in climate-resilient development. This involves integrating measures to adapt to climate change with actions to reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in ways that provide wider benefits. Wealthy nations have failed to deliver on their promise of providing compensation and transferring modern technologies to the poor and vulnerable countries to tackle the climate crisis. There is a genuine sense of hurt among the countries with the highest vulnerability to climate change that their concerns are not being addressed. Developing countries, in fact, have a minuscule greenhouse gas footprint. In this context, climate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are disproportionately affected. The delay in mitigation plans will severely impact countries like India where millions are living in vulnerable areas. The UN scientists have projected distressing scenarios of flooding and food insecurity emerging from rising sea levels, depleting groundwater and extreme weather patterns. Accelerated action to adapt to climate change is essential to close the gap between existing adaptation and what is needed. Meanwhile, keeping warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions across all sectors.

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