It may have been some time already when IPCC pointed out that Humankind might have just over a decade left to limit global warming and the global Carbon emissions to fall by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
To admit to such a drastic change, we began to think of alternatives- like renewable resources, committed voluntarily to such changes in our NDCs, devised and calculated methods to limit various emissions mainly Carbon and methane.
One great lyre in this race to change has been Carbon pricing: the more the emissions, the more price one needs to pay in lieu of the harm done.
It can subsequently bring down the emissions and drive the investments towards greener and cleaner alternatives.
This was never thought to be easy but we had hoped!
Despite such welcoming attempts, the global average temperatures have already reached 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.16 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels currently.
Sustaining the rise to ‘well below’ a 2 degree while pursuing only 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100 as per the famous Paris Climate Agreement would not be possible without rapid, dedicated and serious efforts in this direction.
According to a report by consultancy Wood Mackenzie, a significant rise in carbon pricing is need of the hour to achieve the goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“To be on a 1.5-degree pathway, carbon support prices will need to reach $160 per tonne of carbon dioxide by 2030 and $50 trillion is the minimum capital expenditure needed to induce such change in Carbon emission.
Of this amount, “$27 trillion will come from new power capacity, energy storage, electrolysers and CCS deployments through to 2050, while $23 trillion is required to cover associated infrastructure, battery metals and hydrocarbons,” as per Wood Mackenzie’s Asia Pacific head, considering the global average carbon price across various countries in 2020 the Pandemic year, stood at $22 per tonne of carbon dioxide.
Although fossil fuel based CO2 emissions dropped 7 percent last year due to the coronavirus pandemic induced slowdown and as much as 15 percent of the world’s carbon emissions are already covered by some kind of carbon price.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) report found that the average carbon price across 42 major economies was around $8 per ton in 2018, far below the required levels.
Although the concept of carbon pricing has received an endorsement from the Nobel Prize committee, which awarded Yale’s William D. Nordhaus a share of the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for witnessing a case:
“the most efficient remedy for the problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions would be a global scheme of carbon taxes that are uniformly imposed on all countries.”
Ironically, Nature can cause humans to acclimatize and resort to behavioural changes that we can’t seem to voluntarily achieve.
Differential Carbon price:
It has at times come to light that we need a differential carbon pricing for the third world disadvantaged countries.
For centuries, the industrialised countries have long been exhausting their carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases faster than they could contain.
And due to the uncontrolled populations and bleak opportunities to develop available to the yet developing world, their emissions appear to be on top.
European nations are trying hard to upscale such Carbon pricing while Asian economies are lagging behind.
Though there are countries like Japan who is thinking to revise its carbon tax, which is one of the lowest in the world.
China may begin the online carbon trading by the end of June.
India is working closely with the World Bank and other partners to explore a domestic carbon market targeted at the waste sector and micro, small and medium enterprises(MSMEs) at this instant.
Already more than 1,300 companies across the World and 40 in India have priced or are planning to price carbon. In total, their revenue will exceed $7 trillion.
India’s respective companies and their aspirations:
The cement sector companies want to lessen its risk exposure to a clean environment tax. Therefore, a few have set up an internal carbon tax of $11 per metric ton of carbon dioxide (tCO2).
The oil companies want to manage climate-related risks and drive technological innovation, and it set up a shadow price of $15 per tCO2.
A few technology companies want to become carbon neutral by 2018 and plans to use 100 percent renewable power. It thereby aims to cut its per capita electricity needs by 50% below 2007 levels by 2018. A carbon price of $10.50 per tCO2is one of the measures they have adopted to achieve its green goals.
Another company operating in manufacturing sector aiming to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions intensity of its output by 25% below 2016 levels by 2019.
They find the Carbon pricing to be complicated yet they hope, want and accelerate efforts to achieve the set goals.
Accordingly, the techniques like carbon, capture and storage (CCS) and direct air capture as well as new inventions and measures can help reduce carbon emissions.
The stage is set, experts are in motion, our youth and entrepreneurs aware of the ailing planet, what we need now is a dedicated blow as a mean to serve the end.
Sustainability and limiting Climate change is a consistent process one needs to work on, individually as well as in collectives.