Resetting the green agenda

Asilver lining has been spotted amid the gathering clouds of global warming. Inspired by a champion in Joe Biden’s United States rejoining the fight against climate change triggered by global warming, Japan, Canada, Britain and EU, have promised to cut emissions by half before the end of the 2020s. China and Russia kept aside their differences with the US to pledge cooperation in cutting back on coal and petroleum emissions and India pointed to its agreement with the US to help with the effort at reining in the carbon footprint. Biden’s emphasis on the “moment of peril” representing an economic opportunity seemed to have struck a chord.

The US resolve to aim at a 52 per cent cut below 2005 levels is extremely ambitious and is certain to face big political hurdles in the form of the Republicans who deny the science behind climate change and are likely to turn the clock back if they were to return to power in 2024. There will be a steep economic cost too in committing to the cuts which envisage converting all vehicles to electric traction, using natural gas in coal-fired power plants and afforestation, besides developing cutting edge technologies in carbon capture. The industrialised nations have a historic responsibility to set things right and they seem more prepared to face it now.

Handling the ground realities may be tougher even as the US, historically the largest emitter, and China, currently the biggest polluter, get down to the task that may require enormous funding and new paradigms in energy use from solar and wind resources. In per person terms, India may be expending only one seventh of an American’s energy use but it has a role to play in balancing its economic needs. The coronavirus pandemic may have enforced cuts but those are bound to lift as the world economy reboots. The only metric science advocates to save the planet is zero emissions and it is moot whether man can achieve that when he is so enamoured of consumption.