Editorial: Unmistakable signs of crisis

Climate mitigation measures cannot wait for the excruciatingly slow political decision-making processes of the nations

As the ‘blizzard of the century’ swept across large swathes of the northeastern coast of the United States and Canada, leading to several deaths, and disrupting normal life, it underlines the extent of the climate crisis and the urgency of global efforts to save the planet from catastrophe. Extreme weather events are directly linked to global warming, a result of unbridled greenhouse emissions. Over 150 million people across the US are bearing the brunt of the snowstorms, wreaking havoc on holiday travellers and causing power outages. This extreme winter is also a reminder that no matter how technically advanced a nation might be, it cannot beat Nature’s fury. It is a now-or-never situation as climate mitigation measures cannot wait for the excruciatingly slow political decision-making processes of the nations that have, so far, failed to keep pace with the rapidly rising global emissions. Though international climate summits have been periodically setting certain goals to fight the climate crisis, consensus continues to evade the nations on issues such as climate finance and loss and damage estimations. But, the urgent need to safeguard vulnerable populations cannot be overemphasised. Greenhouse gas emissions are still on the rise. The world has already warmed by more than 1.1 degrees Celsius. According to the World Meteorological Organisation, 2022 is likely to end up being about 1.15 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times. The global failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in time evokes dire scenarios.

The largest emitters historically had to accept responsibility for irretrievable damage as warming above pre-industrial levels is already having an effect. Wealthy nations have failed to deliver on their promise of providing compensation and transferring modern technologies to the poor and vulnerable nations to tackle the climate crisis. They owe a carbon debt to the developing countries which are still struggling to meet their development goals and, alongside, have to contend with de-carbonisation efforts. The recent global climate summit (COP27), held in Egypt, acknowledged that global greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by at least 43% from the 2019 levels by 2030 if hopes of keeping the global temperature within 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times are to remain alive. Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have also suggested that the question was not whether the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark would be breached in the near future but whether the world would take adequate action to pull itself back from there after a few years. Climate or weather-related disasters across the globe increased from 711 incidents in the 1970-79 decade to 3,165 in the 2010-2019 period, an almost five-fold increase. Economic losses increased manifold — from about $175 billion in the 1970s to nearly $1.4 trillion in the 2010s because of the increase in the frequency of disasters.

---