We don’t have time to sit on our hands because our planet is burning,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter in 2018, when the most powerful man on Earth was denying climate change. For young people, US Democrats It is a matter of life and death. Donald Trump, of course, was not alone in his dismissal. Slow-burning crises can get lost anywhere in the arduous routine of myopic public life. Myopia lost its excuse after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) began releasing its sixth report.Last August, the first part of its latest update showed how the world is warming faster than we thought. has been slow, it also issued a reminder of today’s challenge: summer- Global emissions of trapping gases must peak no later than 2025 to keep mercury below 2 degrees Celsius – ideally capped at 1.5 degrees – above our pre-industrial average. At least 1.2°C is already baked into the world, it’s quite late in the day. Alas, the pre-pandemic decade was an exit-fest, the worst on record in terms of volume. On an annual basis, however, its upward curve began to bend. This eliminates the hope that signs of fear at ‘game over’ will not result in a sense of abandonment to fate. For all our sluggishness, a real dent has been made and a swift defense could still spell doom. It’s about bringing our work together.
The report says that after the 2025 peak, the world will have to achieve a target of ‘net zero’ on carbon fumes by 2050, to reduce heat to 1.5°C. After this point, each ton of bloating should be sucked back immediately. To have half that chance of 2°C, we have to go carbon neutral by 2070. A difference of half a degree will be obvious, especially for those most exposed to its worst effects, including humans. However, the IPCC has to be realistic about the feasibility. Its proposals include some drastic cuts. For the 1.5°C target of net-zero, the world’s dependence on coal should drop by 95% by the middle of the century, on oil by 60% and on gas by 45%. India is one of those countries which do not consider it possible given our economic dependence on dirty fuel. According to New Delhi’s climate census, even a quick cleanup will not allow for carbon neutrality before 2070. While the rise in global output is sure to be halted by climate-action plans, the IPCC acknowledges, it urges us to weigh this against a swelling tide of damage brought on by a warming Earth. Sadly, unless funding is found to bridge the green viability gap in countries with a lack of funds, it is unlikely they will be able to pitch in with emissions chokes that fast.
Still, as Helen de Konink, one of the authors of the new report, put it, “we have reached the point of now or never.” If action targets start to slip, India could be working on a last-ditch space program to potentially ‘geo-engineer’ the planet for climate control. Once seen as science fiction, this could involve placing reflectors in orbit, to adjust how much solar heat reaches us. With our low-cost base of expertise and launch pads in the newly-opened space area, we can study if it’s worth a shot. But any such mission would have to seek global consensus, not to speak of bitter division, genuine clarity of purpose and uniform control mechanism, so that no power is gained to weaponize it or misuse it, let’s say, a weather change. Let’s start the conversation.
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