By Verghese Joseph –
A new report finds that action by cities, states, regions and business can go a long way towards meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, but their actions alone are not enough to hold global temperature increase to well-below 2°C and work towards limiting it to 1.5° C.
Indian Catholic Matters supports Global Catholic Climate Movement.
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The report titled – Global Climate Action From Cities, Regions and Businesses – authored by experts at Data-Driven Yale, NewClimate Institute, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, and CDP, is the most comprehensive assessment to date of city, region, and company commitments to reduce greenhouse gases.
In India, city, region and company commitments could reduce emissions by between 225 to 255 MtCO2e/year in 2030, more than the emissions generated by the country’s industrial processes in 2014. International cooperative initiatives could cause emissions to be 8 to 13 percent (280 – 490 MtCO2e/year) lower than what will be achieved through current national policies.
Pope Francis in 2016 had urged the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics and all people of good will to take urgent action against the injustice of climate change and the ecological crisis, to protect the poor and future generations. His encyclical letter Laudato Si is a compelling call to care for our common home, Earth, building on a long history of Catholic teaching. The Catholic Church with a collective carbon footprint of 1.2 billion faithful (17% of the world’s population) and the institutional Church (220,000 parishes, 150,000 schools) has a significant role to play in addressing the climate crisis. Incidentally, Catholic institutions are leading the fossil fuels divestment movement worldwide.
In 2016, the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) launched the Catholic Divest – Invest Project inviting Catholic institutions to divest from fossil fuel companies and invest only in socially and ethically responsible companies that do not cause harm to people and the environment.
This September, the world’s attention will turn to a global climate summit in San Francisco. The summit will showcase commitments from non-state actors–businesses, cities, and faith communities—that are making bold progress on climate change. The summit will be the occasion to launch the new joint catholic divestment announcement where Catholic institutions will publicly commit to removing their money from fossil fuels companies. Inspired by the exhortation of Pope Francis, the Global Catholic Climate Movement officially invites your catholic institution, as member of the GCCM, to take a public prophetic stand for the common home by joining the next Catholic divestment announcement.
“The potential of these commitments to help the world avoid dangerous climate change is clear – the key is now to ensure that these commitments are really implemented,” said Angel Hsu, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Yale-NUS College and Director of Data-Driven Yale.
“What our report shows is many actors are signing up to take actions, but their ambition and ability to move us faster and closer to reach the Paris climate goals in time is limited. What’s needed now is the financing, policies, and support to urgently realize these efforts.”
By 2030, global greenhouse gas emissions could be 1.5 to 2.2 GtCO2e/year lower if individual commitments from nearly 6,000 cities, states and regions, and over 2,000 companies are fully implemented, compared to what would be achieved through national policies that are currently underway. This potential reduction amounts to roughly double Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2016.
The report focuses on 9 high-emitting countries – Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and the United States – and the European Union. It analyses the efforts of more than 6,000 cities, states, and regions representing 7 percent of the global population and more than 2,000 companies with a combined revenue of over $21 trillion USD.
In the United States, where President Trump has announced his intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the full implementation of the reported and quantified individual city, region, and company commitments could provide at least half (660 and 810 MtCO2e/year in 2030) of the emissions reductions needed to meet America’s Paris pledge.
“Our analysis includes only recorded, quantified commitments — a fraction of all of cities, regions, companies and cooperative initiatives’ climate activities. However, there’s also a risk that these emission reductions do not materialize, if regions, states, cities and companies don’t deliver on their promises, or if efforts from national governments or other actors slow,” said Mark Roelfsema of PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. While the report does not attempt to predict this behavior, it could drastically shape the course of future emissions.
Global greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 would be approximately one-third (15-23 GtCO2e/year) lower than what will be achieved through national policies alone if international cooperative initiatives like the Under2 Coalition and Global Covenant of Mayors grow their membership, meet their goals and are in addition to existing action. The United States, for example, could meet and even exceed its original Paris Agreement pledge if if all international cooperative initiatives reach their goals.
“Our results confirm that city, region and business commitments to climate action represent a significant step forward towards the Paris Agreement’s goals,” said Prof. Dr. Niklas Höhne of NewClimate Institute. “The effect of international cooperative initiatives’ climate goals is particularly encouraging, and speaks to the potential for deeper emissions cuts when national governments partner with city, region, company, and civil society actors. The pledges under the Paris Agreement for all studied countries would be more ambitious, if they were brought in line with the stated goals of the international cooperative initiatives.”
The report, Global climate action from cities, regions and businesses: Individual actors, collective initiatives and their impact on global greenhouse gas emissions, is supported by the ClimateWorks Foundation.