Time ticking for coal

Business-as-usual will not work to combat climate crisis. Difficult targets must be set to reduce carbon emissions

- PRATHA JHAWAR

THE WORLD has been stuck with coal for years. The carbon-spewing fossil is still the biggest source of energy. The transport, manufacturing, construction and power industries are driven majorly by coal. But with 72 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions arising from the energy sector, it’s now time to kick this dirty habit.

Already, frequent and extreme weather events like cyclones, bushfires, floods and droughts have wreaked global havoc. The average atmospheric CO 2 level has crossed the permissible 350 parts per million (ppm) to as much as 415 ppm. If the world does not abandon its business-as-usual approach, global warming will rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels within just 10 years. This will have serious implications on natural and human systems. Global warming has already hit the 1.2°C mark.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given temporary relief to environment, but countries must not use it as an excuse to lower their ambitions to combat the climate crisis. Instead, the pandemic must work as the springboard to build back a better world. At the International Energy Agency’s Clean Energy Transition Summit held recently, UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres said that coal and fossil fuels have no place in COVID-19 recovery plans. “It’s time to embrace the vast opportunity of a clean energy future—a future that protects people and planet, and promotes prosperity,” he said.