Talk on Climate Change 18.09.2018
A talk was organized by Kautilya Parishad (Department of Economics) on 18th September, 2018 (Tuesday) at 4.30 p.m. in the Morning staff room. THE TOPIC OF THE TALK WAS –“RESPONDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE- TIME, POLITICS AND ECONOMICS”. The speaker for the day was Ms. Rajasree Ray, Economic Advisor to the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. The session began with the ceremonial lighting of lamp and presentation of mementos to the guests. The speaker began with the lecture by discussing the science behind climate change – the Greenhouse gas effect. The concept of Historical Responsibilities and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities was explained to the students in very simple terms and was substantiated through the data on GHG emissions of different countries. The increasing emissions from human activities call for a global treaty. Some of these treaties and negotiations like Kyoto Protocol (1997) and Paris Agreement (2015) were discussed in great detail. The estimates of scale and magnitude of financial support required by developing countries pointed towards the huge gap between what had been promised by the developed world and what had been actually done.
The second part of the presentation focused on domestic endeavors and NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions). Some of the goals that India has set are as follows:
- Reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 33 TO 35% BY 2030.
- Create additional carbon sink of 2.5 TO 3 bn tones of CO2 equivalent through additional forest cover by 20130
- New missions on health and coastal areas
- Setting up of National Adaptation Fund of 350 crores INR.
The presentation ended by showing the estimates of amount required to meet the above targets, the roadmap of mobilizing these funds and the key challenges ahead.
Doubts on the topic were put forth by the students after the session was over. The speaker was delighted to hear some very innovative ideas of the students to save environment.
