Union Cabinet approved ratification of Paris climate pact
The
Union Cabinet gave the go-ahead for ratifying the Paris climate deal on October
2, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement at the BJP’s
national executive meeting.
What
will do after ratification?
Post-ratification,
India will have to conform to the United Nations-brokered agreement to ensure
that global temperatures do not rise more than 2 degrees Celsius above the
pre-industrial levels.
- The country will have to provide continuously a
detailed inventory of its emissions to the U.N. Secretary-General and
ensure that its growth trajectory is significantly reliant on clean
energy.
- The ratification requires India to submit a document
giving details of its action plan, called the Nationally Determined Contributions,
to the U.N. Secretary General.
How
Paris Treaty will come into effect?
191
countries have so far signed the Paris pact on climate change. The next step
was to ratify the pact.
There
are two conditions for the Paris treaty to come into effect from 2020 —
1. At
least 55 countries have to accept and ratify it and
2. At
least as many countries responsible for at least 55 per cent of the world’s
pollution must be covered.
Till
now, How many countries ratified?
As of
September 28, 61 countries had ratified it and 47.79 per cent of the pollution
target had been met.
Position
of India:
With
India, which is responsible for 5.8 per cent of global greenhouse gas
emissions, ratifying the deal, the Paris agreement would still be short of the
55 per cent target.
- The advantages of India signing on early is that we get to be part of an exclusive meeting — of the 55 per cent club — before the climate meetings in Marrakesh from November 7.
