JAIPUR: The Paris agreement, signed last December by all the world's functioning governments, comes into force on Friday. With this, the governments will have a commitment to reduce global warming and not allowing global temperature to rise above 2 degrees Centigrade beyond pre-industrial levels.
With the agreement, nations have also embarked on a path towards the phasing out of fossil fuels. Greenpeace International executive director Jennifer Morgan said, "Through this commitment, the governments have underscored the inevitable global transition away from fossil fuels. With renewable energy already winning markets from fossil fuels and coal heading into terminal decline worldwide, we have good reasons to be optimistic but it will take even more innovation and civic support before we can celebrate."
"We need to see all governments' national plans be much more ambitious in cutting emissions, because their current contributions to this agreement are nowhere near enough to achieve its goals and prevent dangerous climate change. We expect that in the next couple of weeks, at the Marrakech climate talks, governments will start addressing this dangerous gap with the urgency our planet requires," she said, in a statement released to the press.
Greenpeace India Executive Director Ravi Chellam said, "India is demonstrating to the world that it can meet its ambitious solar targets, with a new report showing that solar PV in India is now growing several times faster than coal. It is time to double down to secure a safe climate for current and future generations by acting to stop new coal development. The financial and developmental case for new coal no longer exists, as off grid, renewable options can provide more reliable electricity at a cheaper rate than expanding the grid will. It is time to stop wasting scarce financial resources on building polluting, forest-destroying, people-displacing new coal plants and deploy those resources towards clean energy for all."
The press release said recent Greenpeace analysis showed that India did not need any new coal power plants until 2022 at least and possibly beyond even with optimistic GDP growth and electricity demand forecasts. "Over 175 GW of coal plants are currently proposed or have been granted permits but are yet to start construction, representing an investment of over Rs 3.2 lakh crore - a significant stranded capital risk for India's economy," the press release from Greenpeace said, advocating the stopping of new coal construction.
