Carbon Budget

August 13, 2023

GS Paper III Environment and Ecology

Context:

Recently, the Minister of State for Environment told the Rajya Sabha that Developed countries have consumed more than 80 per cent of the global carbon budget, leaving countries like India with very little carbon space for the future.

About Carbon Budget:

Carbon budget is the amount of greenhouse gasses that humanity can emit while still having a chance to contain global warming within 1.5 degrees centigrade compared with pre-industrial levels, as advocated by the Paris Agreement
A carbon budget is a tool used to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that can be released into the atmosphere while still keeping global warming below a certain level.
It works by setting a limit on the total amount of CO2 that can be emitted over a certain period of time, such as a year or a decade, and then dividing that limit among different countries or sectors based on their historical emissions, population, and economic activity.

India and Carbon Budget:

India’s annual emissions are well below the three leading emitters – China, the US and the European Union.
- India accounts for less than 4 percent of the global cumulative emissions from 1850 until 2019.
According to UNEP, at 2.4 tCO2e (tonne carbon dioxide equivalent), India’s per capita greenhouse gas emission is far below the global average of 6.3 tCO2e.
India Contribution: India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), plans to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, promising to reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 45 per cent by 2030, from the 2005 level, and achieve 50 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.
- At the Paris climate talks in 2015, countries agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius as compared to the pre-industrial levels.
- At the Copenhagen UN climate talks in 2009, developed countries had promised to provide USD 100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries combat climate change.