I woke up today to read that the carbon dioxide level in the air we breathe around the world has set a new global record in May. Pollution is getting worse. Climate change is a reality and not benign. Global temperature is rising. 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded. Arctic ice shelves are melting and sea level is on the rise. Bangalore is not alone in facing droughts, but its experience should stand as a stark warning. Extreme storms and freakish environmental disasters are no longer surprising us. This is the downside of our lavish industrialisation and consumerism.
Yet, rather than complain incessantly about our decadence, something needs to be done. In 2015, the former US president and others led the efforts to convince the world that they should do something about the rapid deterioration of our climate. No less than 195 countries agreed in Paris to curb greenhouse gases. The Paris accord on climate change became a milestone.
Factsheets report that 147 countries, responsible for some 83 per cent of polluting emissions, have ratified the agreement. The accord became an example of global solutions to global problems. It became a contemporary symbol of humanity acting in unison. Turkey submitted its Climate Action Plan even before the Paris agreement was inked.
The agreement is in fact the minimum that could be done. It is a voluntary set of pledges. How different countries would fulfil their pledges is also left to them. They can choose the most convenient and affordable options to curb carbon emissions. The deal survives on volunterism and peer pressure. That, however, does not diminish its global importance.
Some have argued, not totally off the mark, that the rich world, which became rich by exploiting not only other nations but also our environment, are now turning back and championing self-restraint. Even today, a much smaller subset of signatories is polluting inordinately more than others. The rest of the world went along, nonetheless.
The US announcement earlier this week, to pull out of the Paris agreement, was hardly surprising given that President Donald Trump had already committed to it during the election campaign. Strangely though, the US has already met half of what it had pledged to do without incurring major costs. And it, too, suffers from climate change.
If this is about not honouring the $2 billion contribution to the global climate fund, then that is a petty calculation for the world’s largest economy and second-largest polluter. Irrespective of the federal government, many US states and cities have announced that they will stand by the Paris pledges. From China to India to France, world leaders have rallied in support of the Paris deal.
Maybe, it all boils down to the tension between the old and the new. Is there any doubt that the trend towards greener and bluer economies will continue not the least in the United States? The global economy is in a state of rapid transition and this is certainly the case in the energy sector as well. From the US, Europe, Turkey, India and China to the oil-rich Saudi Arabia, there is massive investment in renewable energy resources.
Transport technology, too, is reflecting this transition. Smart, clean cities and industries involve advanced technologies that mean jobs and health for the young and educated. This is the new economy in the offing and, ironically, it is the US which is likely to benefit the most from that transition. The bad news is that I, too, will have to learn a few more technological tricks. And, it is hard to teach an old dog a new trick.
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