Context
Recently, Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, announced that it will reach “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2060.
Key-Points
- The announcement came at the start of the kingdom’s first-ever Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) Forum.
- SGI aims to increase crop coverage, reduce carbon emissions, fight pollution, and land degradation, and preserve marine life.
- It aims to achieve zero-net emissions by 2060 under its global carbon economy plan while maintaining its leading role in strengthening the security and stability of global oil markets.
- That approach focuses on unreliable pictures technology and carbon storage over efforts to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels.
- It will join a global campaign to reduce methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, which the United States and the European Union (EU) have pressed (Global Methane Pledge).
About the Net Zero Target
- Net-zero, also means carbon neutrality, a condition in which emissions are compensated for by the absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
- It does not mean that the country can reduce its output to zero. That would be gross-zero, which means reaching a state where no one is issued at all, a situation that is difficult to understand.
- Net zero means achieving a balance between the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and those taken out.
Concerns
- According to a recent report (Strengthening the Net) by Oxfam International, announcing the Net Zero Carbon Targets could be a dangerous obstacle to prioritizing reducing carbon emissions.
- More than 100 countries have set or considered net-zero or neutral target releases.
India’s scenario
- India is now the fourth largest emitter after China, the United States, and the European Union, and according to the IPCC Sixth Review Report, it will be among the countries most affected.
- India is committed to reducing the emision intensityof its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33-35% by 2030 and by having 175-gigawatt renewable energy by 2030 under the 2016 Paris Agreement.
- India is unlikely to follow the highly recommended net-zero system but will simply focus on advancing the goals of transition to green energy.
- India believes in the principle of ‘common but separate responsibility’, as developed countries should take the first steps to reduce their exports significantly.
- In addition, they should compensate poor countries for the damage done to the environment as a result of their previous evictions.
- According to a recent study by the Think tank Council for Energy Environment and Water Projects, for India to reach the net-zero target even by 2070, coal consumption, especially electricity generation, will need to increase by 2040 and decrease by 99% in the middle of 2040 and 2060.
