Dhanada K Mishra
Just last week, the city of Catania in Sicily, Italy – one of the driest places in Europe – had a devastating weather event. The office of the Mayor of Catania, Salvo Pogliese, in a statement, said, “In 48 hours the amount of rain that falls on average in an entire year, has fallen on Catania. Eastern Sicily is experiencing a phenomenon that we fear, unfortunately, will be less and less sporadic, with tragic scenarios destined to be repeated. Climate change, the fragility of our territory and the condition of instability, often caused by human intervention, are factors that, combined, can have — and we are indeed seeing these — deadly effects.” The authorities have invested over 400 million Euros since 2018 to combat hydrogeological instability and strengthen infrastructure against the risk of landslide and coastal erosion, but it is not enough for a climate that has rapidly tropicalised. He further warned: “Without extraordinary interventions, which only the European Union can put in place, and without courageous decisions that cannot be postponed by the G20 and COP26, we will periodically find ourselves counting the damage and, God forbid, more victims.”
This scenario is repeating itself in place after the place from the west coast of the United States where “a bomb cyclone hit California causing landslides and flash floods” to our own Kerala and Uttarakhand devastated by cloud bursts, torrential rains and flash floods in just recent weeks. No wonder the latest report released by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on the physical science basis of climate change released in August has been termed ‘Code Red’ for humanity by the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres. The report highlights, among other issues, the fact that it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. Human impact has warmed the climate at an unprecedented rate in at least the last 2000 years. Except for a few die-hard climate sceptics or the fossil fuel lobby funded consultants, no one now disputes it. Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.
In this critical moment in human history, many believe that the COP26 climate conference being held at Glasgow may be the last opportunity for humanity as a whole to take decisive action. COP stands for the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCC) agreed upon at the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit. The historic 2015 Paris climate treaty and the 1997 Kyoto protocol are both parts of the UNFCC. The conference of parties held annually reviews progress. It sets new goals to cut emissions to limit the temperature increase to below 1.5 degree C by cutting emissions back to the net-zero level. The total emissions over the earth’s capacity to absorb greenhouse gases must be zero by 2050.
COP26 has four key objectives: securing global net-zero by 2050 and keeping 1.5 degrees temperature rise within reach, adapting to protect communities and natural habitats, mobilising finance, and working together to deliver. As part of the first goal, countries are being asked to commit to new ambitious 2030 emissions reductions targets in line with the net-zero carbon emissions goal. This will require accelerating the phase-out of coal, curtailing deforestation, speeding up the switch to electric vehicles and encouraging investment in renewable energy.
The second goal requires that countries most affected by the climate crisis work together to protect and restore ecosystems and build defences, warning systems and resilient infrastructure and agriculture to avoid loss of homes, livelihoods and even lives.
To deliver on the first two goals, developed countries must make good on their promise to mobilise at least $100bn in climate finance per year by 2020 as was agreed at the Paris COP21. The fourth goal requires finalising the Paris Rulebook to make the Paris Agreement operational and accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis through collaboration between governments, businesses and civil society. Each of the above goals must be achieved at Glasgow. The commitments must be implemented sincerely without wasting valuable time for humanity to avoid the worst possible scenario set out by IPCC. The pressure of a growing international climate protest movement led by young activists like Greta Thunberg or the Extinction Rebellion has meant that the political and corporate leaders have less room to wiggle out with false commitments.
Alok Sharma, the Indian-born British parliamentarian and member of the cabinet under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the president-designate of COP26, said the following in his introduction to COP26. “Over the last 30 years, the UK economy has grown by 78% while cutting emissions by 44%. That shows green growth is real.” In other words, the politicians still believe that the challenging goal of avoiding climate catastrophe can be achieved while delivering the so-called ‘green growth’, which has been debunked reliably. On their part, the fossil fuel companies that are the main culprits behind the existential crisis staring at the world are busily ‘greenwashing’ their dirty deeds by shifting the blame on individuals for their lifestyle choices being responsible for the climate crisis. These are the self-defeating tactics that have been used by the tobacco industry or the infamous National Rifle Association (NRA) in the USA while arguing for the lost cause of ill effects of smoking and gun ownership.
In the G20 summit held in Rome before COP26, the usual politics among the most powerful nations was in full display. While there were no new significant commitments on the climate front, there was plenty of blame game between the developed countries and developing large economies like China and India. A viral video of a dinosaur addressing the UN general assembly asks the rhetorical question: “At least we had an asteroid? What excuse do you have?” It ends by saying: “Don’t choose extinction by investing in the asteroid (read fossil fuels).” Billions around the world are hoping that our world leaders are listening!
The writer is a civil engineer, academician and technologist with a strong interest in the sustainability of the built environment. He is currently working in Hong Kong.