Climate Action: What makes 2021 the decisive year?

Five years back, I represented India on an International Expedition to Antarctica on Climate Change. I remember boarding the ship from Ushuaia in Argentina, the southernmost city of the world, known as the “End of the World” to the seventh continent- Antarctica. Along with me, there were around 80 other brilliant and diverse minds chosen from 32 different nations. All of them came with the same mission of creating sustainable communities in their respective countries to fight the imprints of climate change.

For most of my life, Antarctica was an abstraction —wild, inaccessible and cold! A land that has never seen any civilization, never witnessed any war. It was the fabled seventh continent. With all of the warm clothes I was wearing, I could not even pinch myself when I was there. While travelling, one doesn’t really find a place but something surprising about oneself. That's the adventure! And that's life too!!

This picture is of the last day when I was wondering if it is the last time I’m seeing the largest stretch of white ice on earth. They say that everything passes, but nothing entirely goes away. And what remains are the memories, stories and never ending pursuits.  One such pursuit is to not leave a barren planet behind. So, a couple of weeks back, when the news of the world’s largest iceberg breaking off from Antarctica came to the forefront, it pushed me to a pause. My first reflex was disbelief – not that I am unaware of the increasing climate degradation, but this news made the forecasted and speculated rips, real and on the face. This chunk of ice which has been called A-76 is larger than the state of Rhode Island. Though scientists think that there is more than human-induced climate change for the break-off, the occurrence brings into perspective the fact that matters related to climate risks must be dealt with urgency. My next line of thought was – actions to be taken!

The pandemic has thrown the world into a tight rope walk of survival and sustenance. However, with the rollout of the vaccines, we can expect a gradual decrease in the infection graph, given that people manage to adhere to the requisites of the new normal. While management of this pandemic and the subsequent health infrastructure will be a long game, in the meantime, we cannot keep other equally pertinent issues on hold. In fact, the pandemic has pushed the whole narrative of development and sustainability to be more result-driven while being inclusive of the people in general.

I believe this year will be a decisive rotary of climate change – one, COVID has pushed us to go even more sustainable than before, and two, we have a definite climate forum lined up for the year. In December 2015, the Paris Agreement came into being, at the COP 21 (Paris Climate Conference officially known as the 21st Conference of the Parties). It was a legally binding treaty whose goal was to keep global warming increase below 2 above pre-industrial levels, preferably to 1.5 degree Celsius, such that a climate-neutral world could be achieved by mid-century. However, not only are we short of the perceived targets but have digressed by major limits. At the current rate of emissions, and with the corresponding plan of actions, the mark of 1.5 degree Celsius will be crossed in 12 years, and global warming will increase to 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

The succeeding conference of landmark 2015 Paris Agreement – 26th COP will be held in Glasgow from 1-12 November 2021, which was scheduled for last year but was postponed due to COVID. However, this could be the year, where the issue of carbon emissions is not just discussed but acted upon. November 2021 could be the turning point in the history of climate conservation, where shortcomings of the commitments made in the Paris Agreement are identified and fixed. 2015 COP was a breakthrough meet – it was for the first time a binding climate agreement was made. The 2021 COP is potentially and required to be the most revolutionary climate summit, because for the first time after the pandemic outbreak; with revised facts, and fresh constraints, all the countries will be setting out to develop and agree on more ambitious and difficult measures for climate change. This could be the way back to the Paris Agreement and much more, which for the time being remains either wrapped or speculated.