New Delhi, April 1 An Indian climate expert is part of the expert group launched by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to develop stronger and clearer standards for net zero emissions pledges by non-state entities, including businesses, investors, cities and regions, and speed up their implementation.
Indian climate expert and Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) CEO, Arunabha Ghosh is part of the group that will be chaired by Canada's former Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna. Some of the other members of this expert group include Oumar Tatam Ly, former Prime Minister of Mali, Carlos Lopes, Commissioner at the Global Commission for Economy and Climate, and Mary Nichols, former Chair of the California Air Resources Board.
Ghosh said: "The climate crisis needs more than promises and climate action needs more than 'believe us'. Climate action needs to be built on trust."
The launch of the 'High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities' on Friday comes amid a worsening climate crisis and growing urgency for all commitments to be transparent, credible, backed by robust implementation plans, and converted into real emissions cuts as rapidly as possible.
Net zero means removal of or reduction of carbon emission as much as it is consumed by any given unit, be it a factory, city or even a nation. The UN Secretary General's step comes in wake of the "lethargic response by the comity of nations to the scientists' warning that it is too late and that the world needs to reduce carbon emission drastically to expect the global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees compared to the pre-industrial era".
"Despite growing pledges of climate action, global emissions are at an all-time high. They continue to rise," the Secretary General said, adding: "The latest science shows that climate disruption is causing havoc in every region right now. We are in a race against time to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees. And we are losing."
"Governments have the lion's share of responsibility to achieve net zero emissions by mid-century, especially the G20. But we also urgently need every business, investor, city, state and region to walk the talk on their net-zero promises," he said.
The Expert Group's recommendations for higher ambition and environmental integrity will address four areas - current standards and definitions for setting net-zero targets, credibility criteria used to assess the objectives, measurement and reporting of net-zero pledges, processes for verification and accounting of progress towards net-zero commitments and reported decarbonisation plans, and a road map to translate standards and criteria into international and national-level regulations.
It will make recommendations before the end of the year.
At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), Guterres had flagged a clear need for more credible and robust standards and criteria for measuring, analysing and reporting net-zero emissions pledges by non-state entities. This launch is a key step towards meeting that need.
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