VATIS UPDATE Article

According to an IndiaSpend calculation, India`s participation in a global agreement on climate change will reduce the country’s greenhouse gases equal to closing one-sixth of its thermal power stations over the next 35 years. It is based on carbon-dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions from thermal power stations in 2012. As many as 197 countries reached a legally binding agreement in Rwanda on October 15, 2016, to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) gases that can have global warming potential (GWP) up to 12,000 times more than CO2.

The agreement will come into force on January 1, 2019 and avoid emission of 70 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent globally – the same as stopping more than half of tropical deforestation. India agreed to cut the production and use of HFCs starting in 2028 – a more ambitious plan than its earlier proposal – according to Climate Action Network International, a network of NGOs working to limit climate change. “India will reduce 75% of its cumulative HFC emissions between 2015 and 2050, under the new agreement finalised in Rwanda,” said Vaibhav Chaturvedi, at Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), India.

The new agreement for HFC reduction for a group of countries – which includes India, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq – is more ambitious that the previous Indian proposal for developing countries but less intensive that the North American proposal. India had earlier proposed a plan for developing countries to freeze HFC consumption by 2031, which means HFC use and production would be highest in that year, and decrease every year after 2031.