 See, few days back, the Conference of Parties or the COP 27 got concluded, right? The conference took place from 6th to 20th November 2022 in Srim el-Sheikh, which is in Egypt. Countries from different parts of the world came together to attend the conference and to take action towards achieving the world's collective climate goal. Do you know about the outcomes of the conference? This is what we are going to see in this video. But to have a better understanding of that, you should first have a brief understanding about the history or a timeline of the climate change negotiations. So, what is this climate change? See, climate change is nothing but a long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Usually, we use this term to describe global warming, that is the ongoing increase in global average temperature and its effects on Earth's climate system. But the issue here is these shifts may be natural. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, which produces heat trapping gases. So, here you can understand that the rate of climatic changes depends on the nature of the causative factor. So, here in this image, you can see the causes of climate change. Some of the natural causes including sunspot and solar cycle, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, whereas anthropogenic causes like chemical fertilizers, deforestation, emission of greenhouse gases have contributed a lot to climate change. Here, you must know a minute difference between a greenhouse gas and a pollutant. A pollutant just alter the nature of an atmosphere or water or the environment, okay? But when we talk about global warming and greenhouse gases, they're heat trapping gases or emitted, okay? Pollutants are different from greenhouse gases. Have this basic understanding. Now, this climate change has huge impacts like rising atmospheric temperature, increased risk of drought, fire and floods, ocean warming, ocean acidification, global retreat and rising sea levels, water stress and water insecurity, intensified storms and increased storm damages, then it might cause environmental degradation and ecosystem collapse, loss of biodiversity and increased risk of mass extinction. Then it can even lead to high risks of illness and disease. Apart from that, socioeconomic losses and reduced agricultural productivity and food insecurity are some of the huge impact that climate change can cause. So I hope you can feel the hugeness of the impact that the climate change is going to cause. Now, depending on how we respond to the global warming, we can limit the impacts. Just remember these three pillars of response to global warming. You can make note of it and write it in your main answer as well. The first pillar is mitigation. See, this pillar deals with slowing the rate of global warming. Now, how we will do that? We can do that by reducing emissions and stabilizing the level of heat trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The second important pillar is adaptation, that is taking steps to live with the effects of global warming. See, adaptation always involves adjusting to actual or expected future climate. That is, we can accept that the climate is going to change and we can adopt to the change. For example, some communities may decide to build dikes, leaves or sea walls to hold back water and others may want to move people and economic activity out of flat prone areas. So this is about the second pillar. Now, the third important pillar is resilience. See here, resilience means the key economic and social systems are climate-proofed for the future. So nations need to become more resilient to the effects of climate change. For example, they can introduce flood insurance for high risk areas of frequent flooding. Resources can be made available to strengthen homes and other structures to better withstand extreme storms and they can even make infrastructure for temporary evacuation and sheltering of vulnerable population can be developed. So this is about the third pillar, resilience. Now, if you are wondering why I am telling all these three pillars of response to global warming or climate change, it is because based on these three pillars only, all the climate change negotiations happen. So with this basic understanding, now let's shift our concentration towards the timeline of climate negotiations. See, it all started in 1972 with a convening of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. See, it was an international conference convened under the patronage of United Nations. Since it was held in Stockholm, which is in Sweden, it is also known as Stockholm Convention. The conference took place from June 5th to 16th, 1972. thereby this conference became UN's first major conference on international environmental issues and this conference marked a turning point in the development of international environmental politics as well. So one of the major results of the Stockholm Convention was the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme which is in short called as UNEP. So the next major move in the climate negotiation is the formation of IPCC. See, IPCC is an Intergovernmental Scientific Body under United Nations. It was established in 1988 by World Meteorological Organization, WMO and UNEP. Remember, it is an independent body and they do not carry their own original research. They just assess the science related to climate change through contributions made by scientists from different parts of the world. Their main aim is to provide policy makers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts, future risks and options for adaptation and mitigation. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Now I am telling about IPCC in detail because through its assessments only, the IPCC determines the state of knowledge on climate change. It just identifies where there is agreement in the scientific community on topics related to climate change and where further research is needed. So based on their guidance only, climate negotiations will be driven. Recently also IPCC released its sixth assessment report in August 2021. The IPCC report in 2022 warned that the world is said to reach the 1.5 degree Celsius level within the next two decades and we have to make the most drastic cuts in carbon emissions from now onwards. See, if such a thing does not happen, it can cause severe consequences to food supply, human health, biodiversity laws and integrity of the natural environment. So the assessment report said that we are set to pass the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold by 2040. Secondly, the report said that humans are the main drivers of climate change and we have successfully warmed atmosphere, ocean and land. We did not spare anything. The report said that the methane levels are at their highest for 8 lakh years and they will have a global warming impact 84 times higher than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Methane emissions are largely caused by agricultural farming, oil and gas operations and abundant coal mines. Since methane is becoming equally tough to limit, we need to keep an eye on methane levels as well. Now finally, the report said that the world is close to reaching tipping point on climate change. See, the tipping point is nothing but the point where the damage cannot be reversed. The report quoted two examples for this. Firstly, imagine the scenario if the temperature continues to rise, forest could start to die. Such natural deforestation will have disastrous consequences on the environment. Secondly, as global warming occurs, ice caps melt at a rapid pace which means sea levels rise and towns and cities around coastal areas are in danger of being swallowed up by the oceans. See, these two conditions are irreversible, right? So the report warned that the world is close to reaching this tipping point. Now just relax, the report does not end there. The report also mentioned five tips to limit the impacts. The first option is to opt for a greener supplier. That is, we can turn our energy supplier 100% renewable. Secondly, we can adopt recycling. Now think about recycling all sorts of items including glass, paper, cardboard, aluminium and plastic. Everything is recycled. So this is the second tip. Thirdly, we can reduce our digital footprint. That is, you should limit the carbon footprint linked to the use of your electronic equipment. Fourthly, you can choose ecological transport. That is, by opting for public transport or an ecological means of transport like e-vehicle. And finally, we have to offset our carbon footprint. See, a carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases that are generated by our actions. We can limit them, okay? So these are some of the important points that you have to make note of with respect to IPCC and its reports. Since it published its report very recently, there might be a question in your problems or mains examination. You can even quote this in your mains examination. So far, we saw about what is climate change, its impacts and how we can respond to the climate change. Then we saw about 1972 Starkholm Convention followed by that we saw about the formation of IPCC in 1988. So now let us move on to the next major event, which is the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Starkholm Convention. To celebrate that, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, that is UN CED, was held in 1992. This convention is also known as the Earth Summit. It was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 3rd to 14th June 1992. See this conference brought together political leaders, diplomats, scientists, representatives of the media and non-governmental organizations from 179 countries for a massive effort to focus on the environment, okay? Now this conference achieved a lot of things, we can see them one by one. Firstly, this conference led to the creation of Global Environment Facility, that is GEF. See this facility just collect funds from anyone, it might be public or private. Anyone can contribute to this fund. Now why it was created? It was created to provide assistance in the protection of the global environment and to promote environmentally sustainable development. Remember GEF also serves as a financial mechanism for the conventions like United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, that is UN CBD, then United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, that is UN FCCC, then United Nations Convention to Combat Decertification, UN CCD, then Starkholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, that is POPs and Minamata Convention on Mercury, okay? See among these five, the Earth Summit led to the creation of CBD, UN FCCC and UN CCD. The other two were created later and it was added to GEF. Now here knowing about UN FCCC is very important. See UN FCCC came to force in 1994. See this UN FCCC is nothing but a framework for negotiating specific international treaties called protocols that aim to set binding limits on greenhouse gases. See the objective of UN FCCC is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous consequences. Remember it is a voluntary treaty, that is it is not legally binding. The treaty itself sets no binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries but if a protocol is made as the result of UNFCCC, then it is legally binding. So what is this COP? Now we have came to the main picture. See the COP or Conference of Parties is the decision making body of UNFCCC. All states that are parties to the convention or represented at the COP parties review the implementation of any legal instruments that the COP adopts and promote the effective implementation of the convention. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March 1995. COP 8 which held in 2002 was held in New Delhi, India. Remember the COP meets every year unless the parties decide otherwise. That is if the parties don't wish to meet they don't meet. The convention has near universal membership that is 197 parties and it is the parent treaty of the 2015 Paris Agreement. We will see about this Paris Agreement in a minute but one of the main important principles under UNFCCC is the common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities that is CBDR. See the principle of common but differentiated responsibility evolved from the notion of the common heritage of mankind. Yes, in the Earth Summit for the first time states acknowledged the disparity of economic development between developed and developing countries. We know that industrialization proceeded in developed countries much earlier than it started in developing countries, right? So this CBDR was formed based on the relationship between industrialization and climate change. The more industrialized a country is the more likely that the country has contributed to climate change. So the states came to an agreement that developed countries contribute more to environmental degradation and they should have greater responsibility for climate change mitigation than developing countries. So we can even say that CBDR principle is based on the polluter base principle in which historical contributions to climate change and individual capacity to mitigate it are used as measures of environmental protection responsibility. So this is about CBDR. This CBDR got evolved in this Earth Summit which held in 1992. Now moving on to 2010, the Cancan Agreement was concluded in 2010. See this agreement is a comprehensive package adopted by governments to assist developing countries in dealing with climate change. I'm telling this because for the first time the developed countries agreed to provide 100 billion dollars every year by 2020 to developing countries to help them transform from fuel-based energy to green energy. So the term climate finance emerged. So what is this climate finance? See climate finance refers to local national or transnational financing drawn from both public and private. It just seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change. So in that line, the Green Climate Fund was also established under this agreement. Its main purpose is to support developing countries. The mandate of GCF is to promote a paradigm shift towards low emission and climate resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adopt to the impacts of climate change. Or in simple words, GCF helps the developing countries to mitigate and adopt to climate change. Okay, so far we saw about climate change, its causes and impacts. Then we saw about the Stockholm Convention which held in 1972. Then we saw about the formation of IPCC in 1988. Then we saw about the 20th anniversary of Stockholm Convention which held in 1992. That is the Earth Summit. Then we moved on to see the 2010 Cancun Agreements. Now the next major climate negotiation came in 2015. 2015 is the year in which the Paris Agreement was signed thereby the agreement became first ever universal legally binding global climate deal. The objective of this agreement is to maintain the increase in global temperatures well below 2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels whilst making efforts to limit the increase to 1.0 degree Celsius. Now one of the major concept introduced in this Paris Agreement is naturally determined contribution or NDC. So what is this NDC? See the agreement required all parties to put forward their best efforts towards their nationally determined contributions or NDCs. These NDCs are like climate pledges made by the countries and the pledges are totally voluntary. So this NDC concept evolved during this Paris Agreement. Secondly this Paris Agreement confirmed the provision requiring developed countries to send hundred billion dollars annually to their developing counterparts to help in their emission reduction measures. So this is about the 2015 Paris Agreement. COP26 took place between 1st to 13th November 2021 and COP27 as I said already took place in Shrum El Sheikh in Egypt and this is all about the timeline of COP and climate change negotiations. Now along with all these we have several other climate mitigation measures. We will see them one by one. The first is carbon sequestration and carbon sink. Here just look at the word sequester. What does sequester mean? Sequester means isolate or hide away and carbon sequestration is the process of capture and long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide. If you ask why carbon is given much importance because they account for about 76% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide can naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical or physical processes. After capture, secure containers sequester the collector CO2 to prevent or stall its reentry into the atmosphere. Now to store these carbon there are two options available. One is geologic and the other is oceanic. Geologic storage involves injecting CO2 into the earth. They can be stored safely in depleted oil or gas fields and deep saline aquifiers. I am saying this because coal seems to observe the carbon dioxide. Now coming to ocean storage, it is a technology still in its early stages. It involves injecting liquid CO2 into waters 502-3000 meters deep where it dissolves under pressure. So this is about carbon sequestration. Now coming to carbon sink, see it is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon containing chemical compounds for an indefinite period. Remember a carbon sink can be anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases. Examples for them include forest, soil, ocean and the atmosphere. All of them store carbon and this carbon moves between them in a continuous cycle. And if you are learning about carbon you must also know about blue carbon. Blue carbon was asked in 2021 prelims. Now the blue carbon refers to coastal aquatic and marine carbon sinks held by indicative vegetation, marine organisms and sediments. Okay, there are other types of carbon as well. The green carbon refers to the carbon removed by photosynthesis and stored in the plants and soil of natural ecosystems. Now the black carbon is a component of fine particulate matter of size 2.5 micrometer. It consists of pure carbon which originates from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, coal, biofuel, biomass, wood, rubber etc. It is emitted in the form of soot. Here soot is an airborne mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. It originates from pyroclases. See pyroclases is the heating of an organic material like a biomass in the absence of oxygen. Okay, now the brown carbon is brown smoke released by the combustion of organic matter. So you can understand that it co-exist with black carbon when released in the atmosphere. It is one of the significant warming factor as it disturbs the temperature pattern of the climate and the cloud formation process. It also changes the solar absorption pattern and the nature of clouds. So all these have constant movement of carbon. So this is about carbon sequestration and carbon sink. The next term that you have to note is carbon credit. See a carbon credit is a tradable certificate representing the right to emit one ton of CO2 equivalent. That is one carbon credit is equal to one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas. Okay, so also make note of this carbon credits are not generated by projects designed to specifically cut greenhouse gas emissions. They are the result of an organization reducing their emissions below the forecast. Carbon credits can be sold privately or in the international market. So if it is traded and settled internationally, it means that the permit allowance are transferred between countries. So this is about carbon credit. See this carbon credit market formally started in 1997 under the UN's Kyoto Protocol on climate change. A group of developed countries pledged to reduce and limit their greenhouse gas emissions using this carbon market. Here you should make note of European Union's version of carbon credit which is known as carbon border adjustment mechanism. See the aim of this mechanism is to help slash the European Union's overall greenhouse gas emissions 55% is below 1990 levels by 2030 and become a climate neutral continent by 2050. So if you are asking how it will do such a thing let me explain. See right now most industries in the European Union are covered by a program known as the emissions trading system. This system has two important elements. Firstly the system charges polluters for the carbon dioxide they emit within the boundary of the European Union. The idea behind this is to ensure that companies in the aggregate do not exceed a baseline level of pollution. Remember this baseline will be reduced annually. Currently the price of these permits is nearly $60 per ton. So this has given European companies a strong incentive to cut emissions. Secondly the CBAM will help reduce the risk of carbon leakage by encouraging non-European Union producers to green their manufacturing processes. I am saying this because according to CBAM the European Union importers have to purchase carbon credits equal to the carbon price that would have been paid if the goods had been produced in accordance with the European Union's carbon pricing rules. So if the imported product has emitted more carbon the European Union importer has to pay more money to import them. But if a non-European Union producer can prove that they have already paid a price for the carbon used in the production of imported goods in a third country here a third country means any country that is not a member of European Union. So if the non-European Union producer can prove that then the corresponding cost for the EU importer can be fully detected. So by this provision the CBAM not only reduces the risk of carbon leakage by European Union producers but also among its importers. During COP 27 the European Union under carbon border adjustment mechanism proposed to tighten the cap further while doing so it is gradually eliminating the number of free allowances it has long provided to industry subject to trade competition like steel. See since India exports a lot of steel it is now in a mandate to produce steel in a greener means. If India does not do that nobody in European Union will buy Indian steel because of its high cost due to CBAM. So India opposed it during the COP 27 itself. Now here you have to remember India is not against CBAM. India is just asking why now? It can be later anytime. Now I am saying this because at COP 27 India announced its long term low emission development strategy which is in short called as LT-LEDS. See this LT-LEDS is nothing but a qualitative strategy in which the countries must explain how they will transform their economies beyond achieving near term targets to reduce emissions. The strategy should be formulated based on the countries various responsibilities and capabilities as per the different national level circumstances. See this LT-LEDS originated in 2015 Paris Agreement and it invited the parties of UNF to submit the strategy by 2020. But later due to Covid pandemic the time was extended and in COP 27 India submitted its strategy. India's strategy has seven key pillars. I have displayed here for your reference. You can just go through it. So this is about carbon credit market. See even recently the energy conservation amendment built 2022 seeks to introduce a carbon credit market in India. So these are all some of the important things that you have to note about the carbon credit market. Now let's conclude this discussion by seeing the term loss and damage fund. See this phrase emerged during COP 27. Here the phrase loss and damage refers to cost already being incurred from climate fuelled weather extreme events like rising sea levels droughts etc. To put it simply it refers to economic loss caused due to climate change induced disasters. See so far climate funding has focused mostly on cutting carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to curb global warming. Here one third of the climate funding till now has gone towards projects to help communities adopt to future impacts of climate change. The point here to note that is climate financing or funding till now did not pay for any damages caused due to climate change induced disaster to the vulnerable countries. So this loss and damage funding would be different from climate financing because it specifically covers the cost of damage that countries could not avoid or adapt to. Here let me tell you an example to make you understand about this fund. If you recall there was a monstrous flood in Pakistan a few months back. This flood killed nearly 1500 persons and caused a huge economic loss to Pakistan. If this flood is found to have happened due to climate change the loss and damage fund would come into action. This fund will be used to help the affected country in getting over the damage caused by a climate change induced disaster. But not that there is no agreement yet over what should count as loss and damage caused by climate change. Initial reports suggest loss and damage fund could include damaged infrastructure and value natural ecosystem and cultural assets. The terms and conditions of the fund is to be decided by a special committee which will submit its report at the next year's COP28 which is going to held in UAE. Now as usual this loss and damage fund was opposed by developed countries particularly by the US. The rationally behind the opposition was that the L&D fund would hold them legally liable for massive damages caused by climate change. But finally due to constant pressure by the developing nations European Union and the US accepted the decision to create a loss and damage fund. So this is all you have to know about COP 27 I hope we have holistically covered everything from top to bottom about COP 27. So if you have any doubts mention them in the comment section I will try to clarify them in the comment section. So with this we came to the end of the video. 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