Dubai is hosting the COP 28 summit recently. The year ahead will be memorable for this summit and the entire world. Not for its agendas or end resolutions but for the controversies raised against the organizing place and the present of this summit. Let’s learn something new.
About The COP 28 Summit
COP 28 is the short form of Conference Of Parties, and it is the 28th edition of this summit. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) members gather annually for the COP summit, which was established in 1994. The focus of this organization is on climate change, its causes, treatment, and taking significant steps to prevent or reduce the factors responsible for it. Along with this, it focuses on and encourages the use of renewable energy as a replacement of fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum. This year, the summit is taking place at the Expo city in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Started on November 30th, 2023 and will continue until December 12th, 2023.
Main root and soul of this COP 28 summit are as follows:-
- Paradigm shift from fossil fuels to green energy.
- Take necessary steps to decrease the global temperature upto 1.5 degree centigrade to avoid global warming.
- Development VS Environment
Also, to discuss the Global Stocktake report published in September and strictly follow the Paris Agreement.
Causes Of Controversy In The COP 28 Summit
This COP 28 summit is considered a “Conflict of Interest” by Greenpeace International.
An Interested person who has a conflict or interest shall not participate in, nor be allowed to hear the board’s or board committee’s discussion of the matter except to disclose the material facts and to answer all questions on the matter.
The COP 28 summit represents the clearest instance of a conflict of interest in this situation. The rising controversy is centered around the summit’s location and its president. The COP 28 summit is organized by the United Arab Emirates, which is one of the Gulf countries, and these countries are major producers of fossil fuel (petroleum). Another matter is that Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is the president of this summit. He is the minister of industry and advanced technology of the United Arab Emirates and also the head/CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. The criticism is that the COP 28 summit is being hosted by the world’s leading oil producing country, headed by the world’s largest oil producer.
Now the world is discussing the topic of replacing fossil fuel with renewable energy on the table of the world’s leading fossil fuel producers. The economic development of these Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates, is largely dependent on petroleum.
India And The COP 28 Summit
The COP 28 summit is currently being visited by India’s Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi. The UNFCCC was created during the 1992 One Earth Summit, and India has been a member of the organization since 1993. Not only on this, but also in many international organizations, India is participating as an active member. India always prioritizes its personal interests and takes independent decisions regardless of any resolution or agreement.
A recent resolution passed at the COP 28 summit can serve as an example of the above. There is a resolution passed in the COP 28 summit in which it is targeted to completely boycott the use of coal at the end of the year 2030 and to increase the dependency on renewable energy more than three times. In this case, India did not agree to sign this resolution with China. If we go back to the G20 summit organized by India this year, at that time India supported the use of renewable/green energy and to increase its potential dimension in every possible field. But for the support of personal interests of India, it is not possible to complete the phase out of coal at a fixed time period, i.e. 2030.
Why Can’t Indian Phase Out Coal In Recent Years?
India is the 2rd largest coal producer of the world, after China. India has a global share of nearly 9% of this fossil fuel.
As India is dreaming of becoming a zero-carbon emission country through the use of green energy, the major dependency on coal for the power and industrial sectors cannot fulfill this in the near future. According to the data from the Ministry of Coal, 75% of India’s electricity is produced through the burning of coal in thermal power plants. Coal is the soul of the Indian energy sector. If this coal kingdom is suddenly banned tomorrow, the whole country will be paralyzed by the deficiency of electricity. In India, like a developing country with its huge population, coal is the only affordable source for energy sectors. It is also true that India has a huge quantity of coal reserves, which are well known as the coal belts and are centered mainly in the regions of Chattisgarh, Odisha, and Jharkhand. India can continuously generate electricity in the coming 100 years through the use of this large quantity of coal reserves present in its land. According to the Minister of Coal, 319 billion tons of coal are still present in India, and this bulk quantity ultimately drives the production and use of coal. Privatization in the coal mining sector also increased the graph of coal production. To recover from the COVID-19 economic crisis, the government of India opened its coal mining sector to private companies. At present, 42 coal mines are under private players.
The Russia-Ukraine war also contributed to an increase in the rate of coal consumption. As the global supply chain deteriorated, the global fuel price increased. The production and consumption of coal were ultimately boosted by this war scenario.
The freebie culture in Indian politics is leading to an increase in coal consumption in the background. If we consider the case of Delhi, here 100 units of electricity bill are free to every citizen. It was a major promise in the manifesto of Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). According to this highlighted statement, AAP won the election and is now the ruling party in Delhi. After winning the election when the time came to fulfill its promise to provide up to 100 units of electricity for free, coal-based thermal power plants are the cheapest option and these power plants burn large quantities of coal. As a side effect of these steps, the major cities of India are nowadays turning into gas chambers. The unexpected success rate of AAP has resulted in many state governments adopting a freebie culture where free electricity is a prominent promise.
For the generation of 1 unit of electricity, approximately 330 gm coal is required to be burnt, and in India, everyday 1.87 million tons of coal are burned to satisfy the energy requirements. By burning 1 kg of coal, approximately 2.5 kg of carbon dioxide is provided. If we calculate these quantities,…
2.5 kg CO2 × 1.8 Mt coal = 4.6 Billion kg CO2
This is the daily carbon dioxide emission amount of India. The seriousness of this matter and the need for India to switch to coal as soon as possible can be easily understood here. Coal is an essential commodity for steel, paper, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, not just thermal power plants. Many steel plants in India were established during the Industrial Revolution. Bhilai Steel Plant, the largest steel plant in Asia, is situated in the state of Chattisgarh. The production of energy for this steel plant requires 17.2 tons of coal to be burnt every day.
India is currently considering use of Electric Vehicles (EVs) for e-transportation. There are over 2.8 million registered EVs in India, and it is assumed that the EVs market which is at present worth $3.21 Billion will be increased to $114 Billion at the end of 2029. The use of e-transportation is a way for India to reduce its carbon emissions. But is it possible for India? The answer is ‘no’, never. The main reason behind this is the dependency on coal-based power sectors. The largest source of power/electricity in India comes from thermal power plants and power plants that run on coal. So where there is coal, there is carbon dioxide emission.
Conclusion
Pollution produced by coal-based power plants causes 80,000 to 1 lakh premature deaths in India every year. The absence of a national emission standard for coal burning in our country prevents us from reducing the use of coal in industrial and power sectors. However, renewable energy is the only best option to stop or reduce the use of coal. India’s 2030 Paris agreement is under question due to the large amount of carbon emissions. The Paris Agreement is an international agreement to take action against the factors responsible for climate change, along with reducing carbon emissions. This agreement aims to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 during the UNFCCC COP 21 summit in France. India is one of the 196 parties that have agreed to this resolution and signed it. But practically, the increasing craze of coal production and use can not help to achieve this target in time.
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