By Shardul Tiwari*
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One of the questions that were raised more vehemently in this year's COP by different groups stressed the cause of climate justice. Low-income countries and the particularly vulnerable groups questioned the lethargic approach of international governance on climate change. In her keynote speech, the Ugandan youth activist Vanessa Nakate outlined the impact of climate change in her communities through her story of the direct impact of climate change in sub-Saharan African countries. Simon Kofe, foreign minister of Tuvalu, a small island nation, was standing knee-deep in the sea to deliver his speech, a symbolic representation of what the future might entail for island nations most vulnerable to climate change. He outlined how the small island nations are paying the price for the climate catastrophe, which they are not responsible for creating or exacerbating. These are just a few examples of distributive climate injustice.
If we look at the case of India, there is a rise in the intensity, frequency, and impact of climate change. India is already experiencing heat waves in the north this year in 2022. The marginalized communities bear the brunt of this really early onset of temperature rise that is normally observed around late May in the same region. This year's heatwaves mirror the summer of 2018, which was the sixth warmest since 1901. The 2021 and 2022 IPCC reports warned South Asia of extreme heat waves intensifying across the region. In India, the worst impacts of this heat are suffered by the homeless people with limited or no access to means of thermal comfort. Scientists further warn that groundwater levels across India, which are already under strain, are likely to be impacted further by these weather extremes. These climate extremes predict that an estimated 50 million more people can fall below the poverty line in the country by 2040. The injustice is in the fact that the people these climate changes impact are the ones who have contributed least to the problem in the country and globally.
Distributive justice is concerned with distributing the conditions and goods that affect the individual or societal well-being. COP26 emphasized the case of distributive injustice in the allocation of harms and benefits due to climate change, and one such example was climate financing. For instance, high and high middle-income countries pledged a yearly investment of $100 billion by 2020 over a decade ago in 2009 and reiterated the pledge while signing the Paris Agreement. However, climate finance peaked at $78.9 billion in 2018 and took a plunge due to COVID 19. COP26 parties reiterated the goal of $100 billion per year, but parties from developing countries argued that the goal of $100 billion every year is insufficient to tackle the climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. IPCC estimates an annual investment of $2.4 trillion is required for energy systems in order to limit the temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2035. Hence, current financial commitments are far below those needed to tackle climate change -- not just in vulnerable nations and communities but also in affluent parts of the world.
The COP26 agreement again put India and China in the spotlight after opposing a commitment to "phase out" coal while negotiating the final agreement. Instead, countries agreed to "phase down" coal, causing disappointment and concern over whether the world can limit the average global temperature rise to 1.5 Celsius. Emerging economies like India and China are making the case that they are not responsible for the past emissions accountable for climate change and are doing their best to improve sustainable energy generation with the financing available. For example, India, which relies heavily on coal-fired power plants for energy generation, pledged to become a carbon-neutral country by 2070 by increasing renewable energy deployment with specific yearly targets. However, critics argue that this deadline might not be enough to protect vulnerable communities that bear first the impact of any catastrophe.
Just these few examples indicate much more effort is required to mitigate climate change's impacts. At COP26, world leaders, activists, and scientists echoed the sentiment of an approaching climate catastrophe that can soon impact our communities. Most of the people attending COP26 agreed that climate change is already severely affecting people in low-income and marginalized countries. If not tackled, climate change will indeed severely impact affluent communities of the western world as well.
The students, scientists and young researchers who attended COP and came from the emerging economies did share a positive sentiment.
Eugene Agyei from Ghana said, "Attending COP for the first time was a great experience for me. Aside from meeting other young people who shared the same interest as me, to see the planet being saved, it also made me realize how complex climate change issues can be. As a young person from a developing country, I think COP 26 was an opportunity for developing countries to look into the future and work towards viable solutions as well as put in place effective climate mitigation strategy ahead of time."
Ayush Chutani from India was optimistic that everyone is working towards addressing climate change, noting, "There existed two worlds in Glasgow during two weeks, one inside the fence trying hard to fight with words in order to keep 1.5 degrees alive and one outside fighting with their voice to keep future alive."
Sarah Green, Michigan Tech professor and interim chair of chemistry, led the Michigan Tech delegation to COP26 in conjunction with the Youth Environmental Alliance in Higher Education (YEAH) Green has served as co-vice chair for the Scientific Advisory Panel on the Sixth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-6), United Nations Environment Programme. She is well known for her research related to climate change.
"Climate change is an enormously multifaceted problem," Green said. "Many actions are urgent, so removing impediments to action may be the most critical starting point. Innumerable opportunities are emerging and many would flourish if obstacles were removed. Perhaps the most important aspect of policy is listening carefully to identify the key concerns of all players."
We always thought of climate change at the very best as a tertiary threat that might or might not impact us in the longer run. However, this myth was very well broken during COP26 by the stories of people directly impacted by climate change. Those impacts are still active and are growing by the day. We heard stories of floods in Africa, drought during summers, melting glaciers, flooding in coastal cities and more. These stories tell us the threat is real and present -- and hope is only possible if we act now.
Editor's Notes:
* Guest author Shardul Tiwari is a PhD student in Environmental and Energy Policy at Michigan Tech University. See also his April 21, 2020, Keweenaw Now article on COP25, "Michigan Tech observer team at COP25, Madrid: A perspective."
This is the third article in our series on Michigan Tech's COP26 team in Glasgow. See also "COP26 Reflection," by Alexis Pascaris, and "COP26 -- An Indigenous Experience," by Kathleen Brosemer.
** To learn more about the Youth Environmental Alliance in Higher Education (YEAH) visit https://yeah-net.org/
