Let’s talk climate, equity and individual responsibility

Every country agrees that we need to fight Climate change but no one agrees who has to pay for it. Historically most developed countries grew unsustainably mainly by mining for oil and coal for their development. In the process releasing a great amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which causes climate change. Scientists have predicted that increasing CO2 increases temperatures and if the temperature of earth goes beyond 1.5 degrees it will lead to irreversible damage. A UN report called "Emissions Gap report" that came in this week says that we have to cut global emissions by 7.6 percent every year for the next decade to prevent irreversible damage to climate change. A long-standing discussion in global climate change negotiations is a demand for equitable distribution of carbon space. What it means is that we assume that only a certain amount of CO2 is released into the atmosphere to limit temperature rise by 1.5 degrees and as that space in the atmosphere is a common property and every individual has a right to it, it has to be shared equally. There are many theories that carbon space should be divided equally among countries based on population, based on their historical use, based on development etc. To discuss this concept and more we talk to Arjuna Srinidhi, a research analyst specialising in Climate Change policy, Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Development. He works with the Watershed Organisation Trust - WOTR - an NGO based in Pune and has over 10 years of experience across India and Southeast Asia working at the interface of science, policy and practice of development issues. Arjuna follows international Climate Change negotiations closely and writes extensively on the subject of Adaptation through various forums and publications. He is also the author of the book RISING TO THE CALL - Good practices of Climate Change adaptation in India and a TEDx speaker. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.