Did the concept of carbon credits really help Government of India to reduce the carbon emissions effectively? Critically examine. (200 Words)
Refer - Business Line
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 5 years
KEY POINTS
Carbon credits have helped
· The policy push to solar power and the efforts to shift to EVs must count as notable steps to reduce carbon emissions, afforestation is what matters most.
· The Odisha government is the pioneer among the states in constructing roof top solar energy project with help of world bank. About 900-1000 government buildings covering 17 cities and towns
· The Centre for Science and Environment points out, soil degradation accounts for more emissions than any other activity since the ‘soil stores three times the amount of carbon as the atmosphere’.
· An intensive afforestation programme requires adoption of the right forestry practices, and above all, a good amount of money.
Carbon credits haven’t helped
· Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to voluntary ones under the 2015 Paris accord, it also impacted the shift towards clean development engineered by ‘carbon credits’ or carbon emission reduction certificates.
· But since these certificates were often under-priced and the wrong projects identified, neither party met their obligations.
· After the Paris pact, targets became insignificant, knocking the bottom out of the carbon credits market. Not surprisingly, as the UNEP report on ‘emissions gap’ released last November observes, global emissions peaked in 2017 after three years of stagnation.
· Global funding for afforestation Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation plus conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) has failed due to faulty carbon pricing and the poor negotiating rights of traditional communities. A multilateral body just for funding green initiatives must be set up.
· But the best recourse is to leverage a corpus set up under the initiative of the Supreme Court in 2002 — the Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority.
· Under this, projects in forest areas have to compensate for the forest cover destroyed by depositing a value in the CAMPA corpus, which will be used for forestry programmes. CAMPA, managed well by an autonomous authority, should put a price on dirty development. That’s the best way forward.
Kaushal Meena 5 years
Dear Sir/Ma'am,
Kindly review.
Carbon credits were born out of an idea to create a market oriented mechanism to curb worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Countries or companies with surplus carbon credits can trade them with others who need more to meet their targets and avoid fines.
It was during COP(03) of UNFCCC in kyoto, Japan; this idea was presented in front of representatives of nations to economise principle of common but different responsibilities. But in recent years several countries have quit kyoto protocol, and countries was not feeling compelled to meet their 2020 targets. This reduced demand for carbon credits and developing countries like India and Brazil have accumulated huge amounts of unused carbon credits.
During COP 14 of UNCCD (United nations convention to combat desertification), India has increased its target of restoring degraded land to 26 million hectares from target of 21 million hectares set during Paris accords. An intensive afforestation program requires implementation of right forest conservation practices along with huge amounts of money. And carbon credits have failed to generate funds for developing world. Indian companies which have accumulated certified emission reduction units over time are unable to sell their carbon credits.
Along with it, the generation of global funds to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation plus conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks has failed due to faulty carbon pricing and the poor negotiating rights of traditional communities.
India must look in direction to leverage a corpus set up of Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority as suggested by the supreme court in 2002. Under this, projects in forest areas have to compensate for the forest cover destroyed by depositing a value in the CAMPA corpus, which will be used for forest management and other afforestation programme.
IAS Parliament 5 years
Anu 5 years
Kindly review. Thank you.
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good answer. Keep Writing.
DHARU 5 years
Kindly review!!
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good attempt. Try to include sub-headings and provide data if possible. Keep writing.
Shivangi 5 years
Please review. Thank you.
IAS Parliament 5 years
Good attempt. Try to include some projects where carbon emissions have been curbed in India. Keep writing.
