India is going to play a key role in the upcoming 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP 28, in deciding the future action and plans to protect humankind in the wake of global warming. It’s an achievement for a country, which until recently was known for its greenhouse gas emission. India’s successful turnaround has put the focus on some developed nations that have the habit of ‘promising big without delivering’ much to the cause. The COP 28 will provide India and like-minded countries a chance to corner the nations that have failed to keep their promises. The proposed conference will also provides a room to expose the duality in the stand taken by countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, where the average per capita energy consumption is much higher than the developing world. For instance, the US, during the reign of former US President Donald Trump had pulled out of international climate treaties, including the Paris Agreement, alleging that it was wrongly signed by the previous regime against the interests of the nation. England was another country that backtracked on its promises made at COP 26 in Glasgow. A few other nations also did the same fearing the stringent climate measures would hamper their economic growth rate.
Ironically, these countries keep blaming the developing nations for the climate change, alleging that excessive use of fossil fuel is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. On many occasions, India had found itself at the receiving end as the developed nations came down heavily on the country for excessive use of coal, knowing very well that transforming to alternative energy discarding fossil fuels is an expensive affair, which requires support from the rich nations. But ignoring the reality, Donald Trump refused to be a part of the Paris Agreement, claiming that he didn’t think it justified to spend so much money to bail out other nations from the climate mess. Some countries followed suit at the cost of making the fight against global warming less effective. The current US administration decided to remain in the Paris treaty in the wake of severe criticisms from various quarters.
As the threat of climate change is real, it is essential to combat the issue collectively with special emphasis on tackling the root causes. The COP 28 should make it mandatory for all the member countries to abide by the measures adopted in the meet. It can also discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions against the violators of the international climate treaties, as making the agreements legally binding has failed to yield the desired result. Violators should be made to compensate for the damages caused.
