What is on the TOP message for the COP?

​Are the global efforts to reduce the GHGs (Green House Gases) emissions after 29 years of the UNFCCC (United Nations Convention on Climate Change), 25 years after signing of the Kyoto Protocol and 6 years after signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, flatly failed and fatally flawed?

From the latest report called 'Emission Gap Report 2021' released by UNEP just before COP26 in Glasgow, it is clear that the efforts of emission reduction are not only fatally flawed but are far from any hopes to halt the crisis of global warming. The aim of the Paris Climate Agreement to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5 deg C or even 2 deg C as compared to pre-industrial times is being hopelessly missed.

In 1992 the emissions of GHGs were 38 Gt CO2 eq, in 1997, they were 40 and in 2015 they reached 55. In place of reduction, they were on rising and rising. With every COP there was emission TOP.

Each of the COP opened with a young boy or girl standing on the stage scolding the World Leaders who front seats lauded youngsters' reprimanding speeches. Media got submerged in headlines of their phrases. Hefty and hallow speeches followed. Promises of emission reduction were flung and assurances of finances from developed to developing countries were hurled.

And the rise of emissions continued shamelessly. Emission Gap report states that the world is on the path of reaching a rise in the temperature of 2.7 deg C by end of the century. So, what do we do? Wait for the end of COP26 for miracle decisions that reverse the rise? Or just wait for COP27 for yet another repeat show?

The only ray of hope is radiated by the youth in Higher Educational Institutes, that is between 18 - 24 years of age. They would be 28-34 years of age by 2030 (the year when as IPCC-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the world should cut emission by half) and 48-54 years of age when the world should become carbon neutral or 'net zero'. They are the torch-bearers when the lights go off and the life-jacket providers when the houses are inundated.

TERRE's project of Smart Campus Cloud Network (sccnhub.com) would make them climate-resilient, crisis-ready and pathfinders.

Rajendra Shende

Chairman, TERRE Policy Centre

Former Director, UNEP 

IIT Alumnus