Dr Asangba Tzudir
About eight years ago, the Paris Agreement also called Paris Climate Accord, an International Treaty on Climate Change was signed in 2016 with focus on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. As of 2023 February, 195 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are parties to the agreement. The Accord has a long-term temperature goal of keeping the rise in global surface temperature to well below 2° C or 3.6° F above pre-industrial levels, and also the preferred limit of the increase to be 1.5° C or 2.7° F.
So, the effects of climate change depends on how much the temperature increase or decrease, wherein the set targets can be achieved only if the greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, and to stay below 1.5° C of global warming, emissions need to be cut by roughly 50% by 2030 (Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich. “The Paris Agreement – the 1.5° C Temperature Goal”. Climate Analytics).
While the treaty aims to help countries adapt to climate change effects, and also mobilize finance, it also impress upon each country to determine, plan, and regularly report on its contributions. This essentially means that countries the world over have collectively decided to put a limit on the amount of pollution they can emit in a year wherein this limit on emissions slowly being reduced to net-zero by the year 2050. The key term here is ‘net’ zero. It means countries can still cross the limit and pollute. However, the limit can be crossed only by investing in emission-reducing activities in some other countries in order to earn carbon credits which allows them to compensate and counter-balance their own emissions exceeded.
In essence, the counterbalancing efforts will automatically support global climate efforts. Now, if someone in Europe wants to produce steel, mine minerals, or burn coal for electricity, they must buy credits to offset the pollution from these activities. Denmark is set to impose the world’s first tax on farmers for the greenhouse gasses their cows, pigs and sheep emit. The tax targets major source of methane emissions, one of the most potent gases contributing to Global warming.
The pursuit of carbon credit by other countries plays to the advantage of Nagaland and which also explains why Japan’s Government and the World Bank are suddenly turning to Nagaland for investments, and the reason being the vast green forest cover to earn carbon credits. The status of forests in Nagaland as on 31st January 2021 provided by the department of environment, forests and climate change, GoN, stands approximately at 8629 Sq Kms.
The state of Gujarat, as per 2021 statistics has recorded a forest cover of 14,926 Sq. Kms, and its forest department, has taken significant strides in the battle against climate change by inking 3 crucial Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 2,217 crore or over US$266 million of carbon credits from planting mangroves. Deals have also been signed in the area of carbon credit through agro-forestry. The initiative, which is the first of its kind in the country, is indeed a pioneering effort in India’s fight against the adversities of climate change. Comparatively, a rough estimation of how many carbon credits the state of Nagaland can produce and earn, can be made. For sure, even if a carbon credit is priced at 10 USD, the amount that can be earned per year will be staggering.
On the whole, while it is also imperative to know the types of carbon credits and how carbon credits will work, the investment factor calls for a balanced approach with regard to emission reduction on one hand and generating carbon credits on the other. Carbon credits have become a vital tool to combat climate change, and therefore, understanding their economics, dynamics, technological feasibility and implications will effectively help formulate climate policies as well as business strategies. The business aspect of climate is an incentive and which should not be debilitated while in the pursuit of achieving climate goals through emission reduction, carbon pricing, and clean energy incentives.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes guest editorials for The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
