November 6, 2022, Sunday 

12 noon – 1 pm

• COP27, beginning today will continue till 18^th November under the Presidency of Egypt. Many commitments have been made in earlier summits, but their implementation is in question.
• Important issues in COP27 are climate finance, extreme weather-related events like floods, heat waves, forest fires, which incur huge damage. This is an important issue from the Indian point of view. Another important issue where India will focus is lifestyle for environment.

• Many developing countries including India have adopted the industrialization model to increase the economic growth. Industrialisation has changed our whole life style. It has led migrations and nuclear families. Increase in economic activity is leading to increase in emissions. Pre-industrialization, our economic activity was dependent on agriculture or non-industrialized activities. Instead of asking developed countries for financial help to reduce industrial emissions, all countries should have an alternate development model. 
• India is an agricultural country so if we need to make lives of our people better we need to revert back to agriculture society, then we will be able to achieve life style for environment. 
• The solution to the problem is to go to the root of the problem. We have to start working on alternative models of development to successfully achieve the targets.
• Climate change is a global problem. All countries should rethink on the model that is appropriate for their country for the betterment of their citizens. At this date our top most priority must be to change our life style. It has to become a citizen’s movement.
• But on the flip side, if industrialization is stopped, this will lead to unemployment.
• Water and sanitation problem, air pollution and water pollution still persist in our country. We should see holistically if we are willing to stop air pollution caused by any industry. Every industry should give an undertaking how much pollution it is causing. Until we reuse water the problem will remain the same. Along with conservation of water we should be able to reuse the waste water. The depleting ground water levels may lead to water wars in the future. 
• We have to look for a sustainable development approach keeping industrialisation and agriculture parallel to each other. 
• Greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced. Small scale industries where alternative energy can be used so that pollution is reduced can be adopted. 
• Innovative researches can be done in environment. Industrialization should be environment-friendly. Consent to operate should be made stricter to control air pollution.
• The key aim of COP27 is to increase greenhouse gas reduction efforts to keep the temperature limit agreed in Paris Agreement. Others include increased global efforts on adaptation and climate financing and making progress on supporting developing countries in loss and damage.
• The Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015 aims to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to below 2 degrees above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees and to make financial clause consistent with climate objectives. It entered into force on 4th November 2016 and 198 UNFCC chief parties adopted the agreement & 193 states & EU have now ratified it.
• In COP15 held in Copenhagen in 2009, the developed countries had committed that 100 billion USD per year would be given to developing countries by 2020 and every year thereafter through 2025 to help developing countries tackle the effects of climate change. But they have failed in doing so.
• The Indian delegation will be led by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav. India has a pavilion with the theme of LiFE- Lifestyle for Environment at COP27.
• At COP27, India would seek clarity on the definition of “climate finance” to be able to accurately assess the extent of finance flows for climate action and nudging developed countries to enhance supply of technology and finance needed to address climate change and resulting disasters. 
• If the burden on poor countries is very high, they will keep environment secondary and focus on industrialization.  
• The absence of a definition allows developed countries to greenwash their finances and pass off loans as climate-related aid.  India will seek clarity as to what constitutes climate finance, whether it is loans, grants or subsidies. It should be in the form of a grant and not loan and should be clearly defined.
• Developing countries, including India, will also push rich countries to agree to a new global climate finance target, also known as the new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG). This help should be in trillions and not in billions as the costs of addressing and adapting to climate change have grown. The discussion on NCQG in the ad-hoc working group must focus on the quantity of the resource flow and its quality and scope
• Any consensus on an enhanced scale of financial mobilisation could be a welcome takeaway from COP27.
• Poor and developing countries also want to see a new finance facility to fund the "loss and damage" resulting from climate change -- for example money needed for relocating people displaced by floods. Developed nations have opposed this new fund which will hold them legally liable for massive damages caused by climate change.
• The existing financial mechanisms, like Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund, under the UNFCCC have not been able to mobilise or deliver funds for loss and damage due to climate change, as these are under-funded, most of the money is for mitigation (preventing and reducing emissions) and accessing it is cumbersome and time-consuming.
• At COP26 in Glasgow, parties agreed to develop a Mitigation Work Program (MWP) to urgently scale up mitigation ambition and implementation. Mitigation means avoiding and reducing emissions, ambition means setting stronger targets and implementation means meeting new and existing goals.
• Proper waste management is needed to reduce greenhouse emissions, particularly for developing countries. Methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide emission. 
• Lack of proper disposal of waste leads to several problems which we are facing now. Today the landfill sites, which were once outside city are now in the cities and are now affecting people living around them.
• Decentralization solutions should be encouraged in waste management. Composting is an environment-friendly solution. Earlier every household has garbage and it was made into compost at that level itself. Plastic was not popular then. Non-recyclable things like plastics etc. should be burned & waste to energy should be produced from the waste keeping in mind the waste emission control norms. These have to be monitored regularly.Till we control emissions from transport sector, industry sector and waste sector, we cannot achieve the GHG reduction targets. It is now time to focus on the level of source.
• Lifestyle in India is still environmental-friendly as we still rely a lot on nonmechanical vehicles like cycles.
• If we make a 7-point program and concentrate on 7 critical goals, we can achieve the sustainable development goals (SDG 3, 5, 11, 12, 13).

• Protect communities and natural ecosystems from damage caused by GHG emissions and generate opportunities for people by catalysing global transition to a low carbon economy.
• Drive up scale of clean, affordable power for systems throughout the world to deliver sustainable socioeconomic development.
• Ensure world’s food ecosystem their impact on the environment, ensure opportunity and sustainability, feed 9.6 billion people by 2030. Alleviate poverty, enhance food security
• Conserve biodiversity, and mitigate climate change by reducing forest loss and restoring productivity through graded deforested lands.
• Achieve a water-secure future by mapping, measuring and mitigating global water waste.
• Improve quality of life in cities by developing and scaling environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable urban and transport solutions.
• Ensure implementation of Kigali Amendment of the UN and the Montreal protocol for ozone and full compliance and recovery of petroleum gases. 

Participants

Dr Anil Kumar

Dr SK Gupta

Dr Sanjeev Agrawal

Dr Ravindra Kumar

Mr Neeraj Tyagi

Mr Pradeep Khandelwal

Mr Arun Kumar

Dr S Sharma