Glasgow’s CoP-26 climate summit will go down in history with a unique distinction. The stand taken by wealthy countries at the summit has managed to unite the Indian left and right wings, even if it is confined to the increasingly focused issue of climate justice. Astonishingly, there was broad-based tacit acceptance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s highly “ambitious” goals, which were met only with raised eyebrows, and not with a generally derisive assertiveness. It was like this: International net-zero deceit meets India-style net-zero deceit. The Government of India is well versed in the dark arts of setting lofty goals for a distant date and then re-setting these goals after the collective memory has dimmed. The West’s effort to increase climate commitments by declaring apparently fraudulent net-zero targets for 2050 or 2060 met its match in India’s 2070 net-zero target.
But the curtain on COP-26 may have been lifted, but the coercion is yet to come.
Take the example of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), which announced that around 450 financial institutions have committed $130 trillion to achieve net zero in the global economy. There are many gray, unexplored areas in this commitment; But rubber comes on the road when these institutions are required to annually report their contribution to the global goal of halving emissions by 2030 through changes to their internal operations as well as financial operations. GFANZ, largely run by finance professionals from wealthy countries (such as former Bank of England governor Mark Carney or former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg), can use their financial strength as a lever against developing countries, Those still in need of long-term financing. Grid expansion and other infrastructure projects.
India is already under some pressure due to wrong naming and shaming. The Glasgow Climate Pact made last-minute changes to its text at the urging of India and China, with the original draft calling its promise to “phase-out” coal power (coal-based thermal production that does not reduce emissions) to “phase-out”. replaces with “. below”. Guns training has been done in Delhi. The issue of coal has somehow come into the limelight, even though there are many other contentious issues that remain unresolved.
Consider this. All previous COPs have avoided mentioning fossil fuels because advanced economies did not want any compromise to spoil the lifestyle of their citizens. But, in 2021, coal became the only fossil fuel chosen to be phased out. It is true that coal is a huge carbon emitter and should be phased out; But without alternative viable solutions, particularly in power generation, or alternative political solutions for the million people dependent on the coal economy, no government is likely to agree to a full phase-out. Furthermore, there is no mention of whether Western countries will end their dependence on oil or gas. The only concession was the phrase “phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies”, a cleverly woven tapestry spec, or leaving much for interpretation of what constitutes an “inefficient” subsidy.
Some historical context may be relevant here. When the world was negotiating the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which sought to reduce ozone-depleting substances (ODS, such as chlorofluorocarbons), India and China were still hold-outs. Arguments were made that Western consumption patterns were largely responsible for the hole in the planet’s ozone layer, with developing countries being asked to move to ozone-friendly technologies, mostly developed in Western laboratories, and their Had paid a huge amount for Eventually, developed countries were forced to create a multilateral fund to finance an ODS phase-out and transfer environmentally safe and best available technologies to poorer countries to facilitate the switch-over.
The world is in a similar situation now. The world is at risk of global warming due to indiscriminate carbon emissions due to its 100-year-old development process in the West. But, once again, the West wants developing countries to embrace clean energy without providing funding or technology. The 2015 Paris Agreement to provide $100 billion each year to poor countries – less than scientific estimates – remains incomplete and has been postponed again. Furthermore, while there is pressure to move away from coal, green technologies are kept locked up and cost more. According to an in-house journal of the World Intellectual Property Organization, there were 24,027 patent applications for renewable energy in 2017, compared to 10,463 in 2002. Most of these patents are in the US, Europe and Japan. Even the expansion of nuclear power generation, which currently contributes only 3% of India’s electricity generation, hangs in the balance, because ironically, China has limited India’s access to new technologies and nuclear raw materials. has been blocked.
Elsewhere there is additional pressure building up. The EU’s carbon limit adjustment mechanism is a new non-tariff barrier that proposes the imposition of higher import duties on exports to Europe if the production process back home does not meet the green regulations specified by the EU. This protectionist measure could impose punitive import duties on any Indian product if the EU determines, for example, that the electricity consumed in the production process was not sufficiently green.
The COP system, like all other multilateral platforms, is subject to innumerable pressures and threats from wealthy countries. Glasgow was also not so different from Copenhagen or Paris, where advanced economies were trying to improve negotiations. Equity then demands that youth protesting outside COP sites be included in the dialogue, as they will still be around 2050–70.
Rajrishi Singhal is a policy advisor, journalist and author. His Twitter handle is @rajrishisinghal.
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