AIKYATHA

27-09-2016

AIKYATHA
Current Affairs MadeSimple
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India to ratify Paris Agreement on climate change on Oct. 2

Why in news?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would ratify

the Paris climate deal on October 2, the birth anniversary of

Mahatma Gandhi.
The Agreement asks both rich and poor countries to take action to

curb the rise in global temperatures that is melting glaciers, rising

sea levels and shifting rainfall patterns.
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It requires governments to present national plans to reduce

emissions to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees

Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit

Background
The Paris Agreement sets a roadmap for all nations in the world to

take actions against climate change in the post-2020 period. It seeks

to enhance global action against climate change and limit global
warming while reflecting the principles of equity and common but
differentiated

responsibilities

and

respective

capabilities

(CBDR-RC), in the light of different national circumstances.

An important feature of this new agreement is that it seeks to elicit

ambitious action by each country by basing it on a country-driven

approach with the contribution by each country to the global fight
against climate change determined at national level

Emissions from major countries

According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2015 was the

warmest year, with temperature 1C above the preindustrial era.

If historical CO2 emissions from 1970 to 2014 are considered, India

with 39.0 Gt is way behind the top three emitters the USA, the EU
and China. The USAs emissions, for example, were around six times
Indias.
Even if historical levels are discounted and only present levels

considered, both in terms of absolute and per capita emissions,

India is way behind the three major CO2 emitters.
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In 2014, in terms of absolute emissions, China was at the top, while

in terms of per capita emissions, the USA was at the top.

Indias per capita emissions are among the lowest in the world

Sector-wise emissions
The energy sector is the largest contributor to GHG emissions and,

within this, CO2 emissions from combustion of fuels have the largest
share.
In terms of sectoral, CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, electricity

and heat production was the largest contributor for China, India, the
EU and the USA, more so for China and India, followed by the
manufacturing industry for India and China and the transport sector
for the US and the EU.
These compositional patterns reflect the different priorities of these

countries.

PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE AGREEMENT

The 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) under the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) successfully

concluded in Paris after intense negotiations by the Parties followed
by the adoption of the Paris Agreement on post-2020 actions on
climate change.
This universal agreement will succeed the Kyoto Protocol.
Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, it provides a framework for all countries

to take action against climate change.

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One of the main focus of the agreement is to hold the increase in the

global average temperature to well below 2C above pre- industrial

level and on driving efforts to limit it even further to 1.5C.

Key Provisions of the Paris Agreement

Bottom-Up Approach
A marked departure from the past is the Agreements bottom-up

approach.

It allows each nation to submit its own national plan for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions, rather than trying to repeat a top-down
approach advocated by the Kyoto Protocol, giving each country an
emission reduction target

CBDR-RC
The principle of CBDR-RC has been maintained across all the

important pillars of the agreement (mitigation, adaptation, finance,

technology development and transfer, capacity building and
transparency of action and support).
This was one of the contentious issues between developed and

developing countries during the negotiations, with developed

countries arguing that the world has changed since 1990 and
fast-growing economies like India and China should also take
deeper emission cuts despite the fact that they have historically
contributed less to the global emission of greenhouse gases.

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Incremental INDCs
The Paris Agreement invites Parties to submit their first nationally

determined contributions prior to the submission of their

instruments of ratification, accession, or approval of the Agreement.
The Parties whose intended nationally determined contributions

have a time frame up to 2025-2030 are required to communicate or

update these contributions by 2020 and to do so every five years
thereafter.
Each Partys successive nationally determined contribution will

represent a progression beyond the Partys then current nationally

determined contribution.

Mitigation:
The Paris Agreement operationalizes differentiation between developed
and developing countries mitigation actions through three main elements,
namely, (a) by acknowledging that peaking of emission in developing
countries will take longer; (b) by calling upon developed countries to take
the lead in mitigation actions; and (c) by calling upon support to be
provided to developing countries for implementation of climate change
actions, recognizing that enhanced support will allow for higher ambition
in their action.

Adaptation:
Given the trends in global warming, even if the temperature rise is

restricted to below 2C, adaptation support would be required for

developing countries like India.
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The agreement establishes the global goal on adaptation of

enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing

vulnerability to climate change.

Finance:
The agreement sets a binding obligation on developed countries to

provide financial resources to developing countries for both

mitigation and adaptation while encouraging other countries to
provide support on a voluntary basis.
It reaffirms that developed countries will take the lead in mobilizing

climate finance from a wide variety of sources, instruments and

channels, noting the significant role of public funds.
The decision also sets a new collective quantified goal from a floor

of US$ 100 billion per year prior to 2025, taking into account the
needs and priorities of developing countries.

Steps taken by India to combat Climate Change

National Action Plan on Climate Change

India has adopted the National Action Plan on Climate Change

(NAPCC) in 2008 which has both mitigation and adaptation

measures.
The eight National Missions which form the core of the NAPCC

represent multi-prolonged, long-term, and integrated strategies for

achieving key goals in the context of climate change. Adaptation is

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the focus of the NAPCC. At the same time, Missions on Solar Energy
and Energy Efficiency are geared to mitigation
Apart from the NAPCC, all the states have also been asked to

prepare state-level action plans. These plans are envisioned as

extensions of the NAPCC at various levels of governance, aligned
with the eight National Missions.

INDC
As a part of its contributions to the global climate change mitigation
efforts, India announced its intended nationally determined contribution
(INDC) which set ambitious targets for domestic efforts against climate
change. Including other efforts, the country has set itself an ambitious
target of reducing its emissions intensity of its gross domestic product
(GDP) by 33-35 per cent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels
Renewable Energy:
40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from

non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.

The total renewable energy capacity target has been increased to

175 GW by the year 2022, out of which 100GW is to be from

solar,60 GW from wind, 10 GW from biomass and 5 GW from small
hydro power projects

Nuclear Energy

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India recognizes the importance of nuclear energy as a sustainable

energy source. In this regard a three-stage nuclear power

programme has also been chalked out.
Indias present nuclear installed capacity is 4780 MW and there are

plans to install nuclear generation capacity of 20000 MW by 2020.

International Solar Alliance

A call for greater cooperation among the countries within the tropics for
promotion of solar energy

Transport
India has taken substantial initiatives to make the transport sector less
emission intensive. One of the major initiatives has been upgradation of
vehicular emission norms to BS-VI

National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change :

A National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) has been

established for the year 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.

It is meant to assist in meeting the cost of national- and state-level

adaptation measures in areas that are particularly vulnerable to the

adverse effects of climate change.

Coal Cess and the National Clean Energy Fund

The coal cess has been increased to Rs 200.00 per tonne in the

2015-16 Budget.

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The National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) which is supported by the

cess on coal was created for the purposes of financing and

promoting clean energy initiatives

Cabinets formal nod to be sought for Budget on Feb. 1

Why in news?
The Finance Ministry has settled on February 1 as the new date for

the presentation of the Union Budget, with the decision expected to

be placed before the Cabinet for formal approval soon.
The Cabinet had last week approved the merger of the railway

budget with the general budget and had given an in-principle nod
for presenting the Budget earlier than February 28

Reason for change in the Date

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The idea behind bringing forward the Budget date, according to the

government, is so that ministries and state governments can begin

disbursing funds from the beginning of the financial year.
At the moment, with the Budget being presented at the end of

February, several processes, including the vote on account, result in

states being able to disburse funds only by late May.

Does it require Parliamentary Approval?

The Cabinet advises the President and the President summons

Parliament. The Parliament has no say on when it meets, the

government decides that.
Hence, the decision to change the Budget date, and correspondingly

the dates of the Budget session of Parliament, does not require

Parliamentary approval.

PSLV C-35 puts eight satellites in two orbits

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Why in news?
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a total of eight

satellites in two different orbits.

Earlier, ISRO was using separate rockets to launch satellites in

different orbits and for the first time, ISRO launched satellites in two
different orbits in a single mission.

Why is it significant?
PSLV satellite launcher has for the first time place its multiple

passengers in two different orbits.

This flight also marks another first for PSLV it will be the longest

ever, clocking at two hours and 15 minutes, whereas routine PSLV

launches last about 20 minutes
The PSLV has so far launched 39 remote-sensing satellites of ISRO,

including the Chandrayaan-1 of 2008 and the Mars mission of

2013-14.
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It has also orbited 74 foreign commercial and university satellites in

a global trend where the demand for its category of launch services
is increasing.
The launch has enhanced the marketability and versatility of PSLV

and has put the ISROs workhorse in a unique position in the

global satellite launch services market.
Antrix is in talks with many countries for more launches to the tune

of about Rs. 280 crore

Details of the Payloads

Soon after the launch, SCATSAT-1 would be positioned at an altitude

of 730 km in the polar sun synchronous orbit. The satellite, with a

life of five years, would provide weather forecasting services
through wind-vector products.
The 10-kg PRATHAM, designed by the IIT-Bombay, would estimate

the total electron count with a resolution of 1km x 1km location

grid.
The PISAT (5.25 kg), from PES University in Bengaluru, would

explore remote sensing applications.

ALSAT-1B is an earth-observation satellite (103 kg), ALSAT-2B is a

remote-sensing satellite (117 kg) and ALSAT-1N (7 kg) is a

technology demonstrator.

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Melting Greenland ice threatens to expose Cold War waste

Why in news?
A snow-covered former U.S. army base in Greenland dubbed a city
under ice could leak pollutants into the environment as the climate
changes, raising difficult questions over who is responsible for clean-up.

Background
In 1959, U.S. army engineers began constructing a futuristic project

in northwestern Greenland that might as well have been lifted from

a Cold War spy movie.
Accommodating up to 200 soldiers, Camp Century was officially

built to provide a laboratory for Arctic research projects, but it was

also home to a secret U.S. effort to deploy nuclear missiles.
Code-named Project Iceworm, that part of the operation was never

mentioned in the treaty between the U.S. and Denmark, once the
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colonial master of Greenland, a territory that is now largely

self-governing.
But the spectacular project which even included a test railway

under the snow was never fully realised.

Why was the project abandoned?

Three years later scientists found that the glacier was shifting much faster
than previously thought, threatening to crush the tunnels, and the base
was abandoned in 1967.

Possible leakage
Assuming the site would remain frozen in perpetuity, the US army

removed the nuclear reactor but allowed waste equivalent to the

mass of 30 Airbus A320 airplanes to be entombed under the
snow.
Half a century later that decision is being questioned as

temperatures in the Arctic rise at a higher pace than in the rest of

the world.
By 2090, the amount of ice melting may no longer be offset by

snowfall, meaning the toxic chemicals could start leaking into the
environment

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How to make the monetary policy committee work

Why in news?
The government last week announced the names of three

economists who will be its nominees on the MPC. The central bank
had earlier announced its three nominees as well. India will now be
among the many countries where interest rates are set by a
committee rather than an individual.
A lot now depends on how the MPC operates. There are several

issues that need to be sorted out to ensure that the shift to the new
system of deciding monetary policy is indeed worth it.

How to improve the functioning of MPC?

All the members of the MPC should have access to the same amount

of information. What this means in practice is that the external

members should have open access to the research done by central
bank economists. Members of the old technical advisory committee
have often in private complained about the lack of adequate data
before meetings. An MPC secretariat may need to be set up for this.
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The group dynamics will matter. Experiments show that

committees take better monetary policy decisions than individuals.

Yet, we must not ignore the risks from groupthink. There is little use
of a committee if everybody thinks alike, or at least toes the official
line. The discussions should be open. It would be especially
welcome if the RBI members do not habitually vote as a block in the
meetings.
The governor should try not to use his casting vote at least in the

initial years.

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