Latest Data Shows India, China Making Big Strides in Reducing Carbon Emissions

New Delhi: Newly released data shows that India and China are becoming the global leaders in reducing carbon emissions, while policy rollbacks by President Donald Trump may make the United States of America miss its climate change targets.

Data released last week by the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) estimates that both India and China look set to overachieve their Paris Agreement pledges by reducing projected global carbon emission growth by roughly two to three billion tonnes by 2030, compared to earlier forecast.

The CAT, in its press release, said that if India implements recently announced policies, it will see a significant slowing in the growth of CO2 emissions over the next decade. The CAT is an independent scientific analysis produced by three research organisations tracking climate action since 2009. The CAT tracks 32 countries covering around 80% of global emissions.

Global media have highlighted the development and commented that the mantle of leadership seems to be passing to the two Asian countries and that the USA appears to be lagging behind.

In an editorial, the New York Times said: “Until recently, China and India have been cast as obstacles, at the very least reluctant conscripts, in the battle against climate change. That reputation looks very much out-of-date now that both countries have greatly accelerated their investments in cost-effective renewable energy sources — and reduced their reliance on fossil fuels. It’s America — Donald Trump’s America — that now looks like the laggard.”

The editorial further said that “China and India are finding that doing right by the planet need not carry a big economic cost and can actually be beneficial. In a recent auction in India, developers of solar farms offered to sell electricity to the grid for 2.44 rupees per kilowatt-hour (or 3.79 cents). That is about 50 percent less than what solar farms bid a year earlier and about 24 percent less than the average price for energy generated by coal-fired power plants.”

The CAT said that the positive developments in India and China significantly outweigh the potentially negative effects on emissions proposed in the US, adding that it would move the Trump administration’s rating of climate policies from “medium” to “inadequate” on its scale.