India @ 77

Its the eve of Independence Day, and as has been a fairly long-standing tradition, time for an all things India blogpost (2023 edition)

The 77th year in modern India’s life was an interesting one. Political events in the immediate neighborhood have reaffirmed that for all the flaws, things could have been far worse, if not for the vision of our founding fathers!

The Chandrayaan landed on the Moon. Truly a monumental achievement!

There was the biggest Indian festival – the general elections. The results of the long-drawn campaign were a bit chaotic - those who won seem unhappy, while those who continue to be in the Opposition seem the happier lot. After 10 years, there is a Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. The slightly unexpected outcome has also resulted in even the media becoming less of a cheerleader and a bit more unbiased!

Meanwhile, the nuance from any public debate still continues to be completely missing. There are two sides on any issue. Either it is a slugfest or it will be one outraging, other completely silent. And almost always split on the same political line. The echo chambers are becoming deafening. Only characteristic common is the hypocrisy. 

Also, we are becoming more and more immune. An illegal hoarding collapse, train accidents, manmade "natural" disasters, horrific crimes - we pause and we move on.

There was also a random narrative of  the official name of the country being changed to a name which is also the official name! A true case of much ado about nothing.

The economy continues to give mixed signals – the stock markets continue to rise and rise, while the on-ground picture doesn’t look that rosy.

The biggest nuisance – the phone call scammers. Electricity bill scam, fake couriers, customs, number disconnection threats, video callers, kyc… the list seems to be just going on and on. It just seems to be turning into a case of when you will fall in the trap of the cyber thugs! Keep navigating this minefield and pray that you do not randomly click a malicious link.

Climate change is becoming more and more real. The actions to combat it are simply not enough. The same monsoom season has seen both excess in many parts and a dry spell in the other. Flash floods, landslides, shifting seasons are becoming the new normal.

On the sporting front – the Men’s cricket team finally broke their trophy drought with a T20 World Cup victory, while a home ODI World Cup just slipped away. 

The Olympics are done, lots of folks bemoaning the low rankings (it’s a quadrennial rant) while never even bothering to find out what happens in the interim. The fact that the second highest medals tally seems an underperformance shows that the so called sleeping global sports giant has slowly started to stir (it will still take some more time to be fully awake). 

One sport which has grown leaps and bounds has been Chess – Gukesh becoming a Challenger and Praggnandha finishing runners-up show that finally Indian chess is moving out of the mighty Vishwanathan Anand era.

On that optimistic note, closing out this post. 

Jai Hind!

India @ 76

A couple of days back an SMS arrived.

“Har Ghar Tiranga is back. 13-15 Aug bring home & fly Tiranga with pride! Upload selfies on harghartiranga.com”

Yes, its that time of the year, when amongst other things this blog gets a post on all things India. (Here is the 2022 edition) 

Interestingly, I am also halfway through the book, “Freedom at Midnight”. 76 years have gone by, but many of those issues remain continue and can be traced back to those fateful last days of the British Raj. Bipartisan politics, communal violence, hope and worries for the coming days, history finds new own ways to repeat itself!

[An aside - Wouldn't it be the mother of all ironies, if Scotland is separated from the United Kingdom under the watch of  Rishi Sunak and Humza Yusuf?]

Returning to the present.

India has overtaken China as the most populous country in the world. Or maybe not. After all, the Census exercise has not been done since 2011, another collateral victim of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The effects of Climate Change are becoming more and more visible. On one hand, the monsoons are creating havoc on the urban infrastructure, while other parts of the country are reeling in drought. The seasons are becoming increasingly erratic. The hilly regions are even more at risk, as highlighted by the "sinking" of the town of Joshimath. Given the vast population, and its ever-growing energy requirements, drastic action is required on the climate front. While the government has stated ambitions of Net Zero by 2070, it might be a case of too little too late! Tthe discovery of lithium prospects in Jammu could become play an important role in this climate battle.

India has the G20 presidency. That means almost every city has got some G20 event happening across the year. Which also means there are weird (yet also cute looking) G20 banners and posters on every road and street!

The General elections are coming. That unfortunately implies more political mudslinging, further rejigging of alliances, lots of Aya Rams & Gaya Rams and more hatemongering. The race to the bottom in the political discourse will be heightened (or lowered). The political game of thrones will be on full swing till mid next year, till we finally get a government in place!

In the interim, the actual governance may go for a toss, with everyone looking to extract their pound of flesh from every event. Just look at the online battleground that the Manipur issues have become, while actual on-ground issues continue to be unresolved. Similar is the case of the Wrestling saga. In a country, where sporting heroes are still in short supply, seeing the visuals of some of the most decorated sportspersons sitting on dharna and being dragged around by the authorities was disturbing. And for the public opinion, whose side you stand on is defined by your political inclination. Just continuing the trend of everything being politicized and sharply polarized.

Lets hope the individual common sense stays in the heavily politically charged coming months!

There is a big Men’s ODI World Cup coming up and somehow BCCI has bungled up the event scheduling and ticketing. What a fall from the days of Dalmia & Bindra. Although, they also deserve plaudits for starting (finally) the WPL and providing pay parity for international games. Amidst all the chaos, they still are the best-run sporting organization in the country. Speaks more of the incompetence of the other sports bodies, which for some reason or the other keep getting themselves banned by the global federations.

Meanwhile, despite the Hindenburg report, the stock markets continue their bull runs, reaching new highs, and providing a pretty good silver lining amongst the political & environmental crowds. Although it all could be just a bubble waiting to be burst.

Overall, not a rosy picture but to end on a good note. “Naatu Naatu” won an Oscar providing the first truly Indian Oscar winners (earlier ones were all for external projects). It was a pleasant surprise to see this foot-tapping chart-topping song reach such popularity!

On that musical note. Happy Birthday India! Jai Hind!

Learn N Blog #25: The IPCC Report

“Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once.” - António Guterres, on the release of the 6th IPCC Report.

Mr. Guterres has been known to use cultural references in talks on Climate Change. Remember the “Highway to Hell” reference during COP27!

“There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all….the choices and actions implemented in this decade [i.e., by 2030] will have impacts now and for thousands of years” – This is the key messages from latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). And hence the call from action by Mr. Guterres.

IPCC has been publishing the reports on Climate Change since early 1990s. Following is a brief history of the reports, their findings & imapct.

1st Report (1992)

Finding: predicted a global temperature rise of about 2C by 2025, compared with the period before the industrial revolution that sparked the mass burning of fossil fuels. (In 2023, the rise is 1.4C.)

Impact: Creation of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

2nd Report (1995)

Finding: Climate change is likely to have wide-ranging and mostly adverse impacts on human health, with significant loss of life. 

An Appeal: Where there is a lack of full scientific certainty, [countries] should: ‘take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent or minimize the causes of climate change and mitigate its adverse effects’.

3rd Report (2001)

Finding: There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. 

A Warning: Impacts of climate change will fall disproportionately upon developing countries and the poor persons within all countries.

4th Report (2007)

Finding: Delayed emission reductions significantly constrain the opportunities to achieve lower stabilization levels and increase the risk of more severe climate change impacts. The evidence leads to a simple conclusion: the benefits of strong and early action far outweigh the economic costs of not acting … delay would be dangerous and much more costly. 

Impact: IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. However, the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 put the report on its backburner. Hope the same doesn’t hit the 2023 report!

5th Report (2014)

Finding: Human influence on the climate system is clear. Recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems [and] many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. 

Impact: The report laid the scientific ground for the UN’s Paris agreement in 2015, which for the first time spurred most nations to cut emissions.

Special Report (2018):

Finding: Contrasted the stark difference between 1.5 & 2.5 C temperature difference

6th Report (2023)

Key messages: In the near-term, global warming is more likely than not to reach 1.5C even under a very low emission scenario. And any given future warming level, many climate-related risks are higher than [previously] assessed. “Without a strengthening of policies, global warming of 3.2C is projected by 2100.”

The Three signposts

1. Climate crisis is fundamentally a crisis of injustice: “The 10% of households with the highest per capita emissions contribute 34-45% of global consumption-based emissions, while the bottom 50% contribute 13-15%.” The climate emergency cannot end without addressing the inequalities of income and gender for the simple reason that “social trust” is required for “transformative change”.
2. Any new fossil fuel developments are utterly incompatible with the net zero emissions required. “Projected CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure without additional abatement would exceed the remaining carbon budget for 1.5C,” the report says. It implies that the oil, gas and coal projects already in operation will lead to rise beyond 1.5C, unless carbon capture technology works at scale (yet unproven).
3. Need for technology and finance: “Feasible, effective, and low-cost options and adaptation are already available.” Solar and wind power, energy efficiency, cuts in methane emissions and halting the destruction of forests are the key ones.

The report acknowledges the daunting task at hand. “The systemic change required to achieve rapid and deep emissions reductions and transformative adaptation to climate change is unprecedented in terms of scale [and] near-term actions involve high up-front investments.” While money is key the report concludes “the costs of climate action are clearly lower than the damages climate chaos will cause.”

Given the dire warnings, as Mr. Guterres says, tackling climate change will require actions (policy, technology, monetary) everything, everywhere, all at once.

Links:

• IPCC Report: IPCC 
• Reports Timeline: The Guardian 

Previously on Learn N Blog: Ozone Depletion & Rejuvenation 

Learn N Blog #24: Ozone Depletion & Rejuvenation

Rio Declaration

Kyoto Protocol

Paris Climate Accords

Global Methane Pledge

Net Zero Pledges

I always wonder if these myriad conferences and agreements on climate have ever had any real impact on the world. Most climate conferences seem to be about making the right noises and then coming back next year to do more of the same!

However, while there is skepticism about the real impact of these conferences and agreements, there is one area in which collective action has yielded the desired results. The “hole” in the Ozone layer over Antarctica is now shrinking and this is attributed directly to the results of the Montreal Protocol of 1987.

Ozone Depletion: observed in the 1970s, there was a depletion of ~4% in the total amount of Ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Antarctic Ozone Hole: Discovered in 1980s, it is not exactly a hole, but rather a reduction in the amount of ozone in different regions of the atmosphere over Antarctica. The reduction is not uniform. Similar “holes”, but of much smaller size have also been observed in the Arctic and Tibet.

Chief Causes: Increased amount of chemicals emissions – chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) present in refrigerants. These compounds when released, eventually break down the atmospheric Ozone into Oxygen.

Impact of Ozone Depletion: The Ozone layer prevents the harmful Ultra-violet rays from entering the earth’s atmosphere. With its depletion, it would lead to increased incidences of skin cancer, sunburns, cataracts and blindness in humans, increased temperatures globally, reduced crop yields etc.

Montreal Protocol, 1987: required countries to stop producing substances that damage the ozone layer, such as CFCs. The Montreal Protocol happens to be the only Treaty ratified by all UN members!

Impact of the Montreal Protocol: Post the ban on CFCs production in accordance with the Montreal Protocol from 1989 onwards, there has been a steady change in the atmospheric ozone. The depletion stopped in mid-1990s and the levels have been recovering. Currently, the hole in the Ozone layer has been the smallest since its discovery in 1980s. And as per current projections, the Ozone Layer is expected to completely regenerate by 2045! Truly, a remarkable success case.

As per UNEP, this has also helped in avoiding 0.5C of global warming by 2050!

Other Causes of Changes: There are seasonal changes to the amount of Ozone in the atmosphere. The depletion is greatest during spring and lowest in winter (when there is hardly any light) Major volcanic eruptions can also cause change in the composition. E.g., the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption of 2022 could have reversed the decline in the growth.

The Challenge

It took 4 decades for the damage to take place and another 7 decades+ to reverse it. Hope that we have not reached the irreversible stage in other areas!

However, there is one more challenge – the deniers. Every claim is denied backed by counter-research which seems equally credible. Whether the ozone layer is depleting, or it is caused by CFCs, or if ozone depletion does any damage – all of these have been disputed subjects by both scientists and the lobbyists.

A Case of Optimism

The reversal of the Ozone depletion through collective action does present a case of hope for the larger issue of Climate Change as well. While it took 4 decades for the damage to be noticed, its reversal is taking much longer. Just showing the scale of the task at hand. But at least, we have an example of how to yield the right result - Identifying the source and then collectively taking the corrective action to prevent permanent damage!

P.S. Unintentionally this post is getting published on the day Google is celebrating the birthday of Mario Molina, who discovered the harmful effects of CFCs on the Ozone layer, with a doodle.

Links:

• Global Climate Agreements: CFR  
• Monitoring the Ozone Layer: Atmosphere 

Previously on Learn N Blog: The Global Methane Pledge

Learn N Blog #23: Global Methane Pledge

What Is It? 

The Global Methane Pledge aims to reduce methane emissions to bring down the global temperature increase.

When was it launched? 

November 2021, in Glasgow at COP26

What do the participants have to do?

Participants joining the Pledge agree to take voluntary actions to contribute to a collective effort to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030, which could eliminate over 0.2˚C warming by 2050. This is a global, not a national reduction target.

Participants also commit to moving towards using the highest tier IPCC good practice inventory methodologies, as well as working to continuously improve the accuracy, transparency, consistency, comparability, and completeness of national greenhouse gas inventory reporting under the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, and to provide greater transparency in key sectors.

The Pledge aims to catalyze global action and strengthen support for existing international methane emission reduction initiatives to advance technical and policy work that will serve to underpin Participants’ domestic actions. The Pledge also recognizes the essential roles that private sector, development banks, financial institutions and philanthropy play to support implementation of the Pledge and welcomes their efforts and engagement.

What are the Action Areas? 

It is a wide ranging field covering improved emissions measurement and tracking, reducing food & water wastage, policy changes to regulating emissions from various industries especially oil & gas

Who are participating? 

Approximately 150 countries have taken the pledge including USA and EU.

Who are the Notable Absentees? 

China, India, Russia – 3 of the Top 5 methane emitters have NOT taken the pledge!

Why India did not sign?

The chief reasons given by the Indian govt are

• Methane emissions are survival emissions in India and not ‘luxury’ emissions, as in the case of the West.
• Agriculture is not included in India’s emission intensity target
• Shifting of CO2 reduction burden to methane reduction: CO2 the predominant gas responsible for climate change has a lifetime of 100-1,000 years, while methane has 12 years
• Low global contribution to methane emissions by the Indian livestock
• Methane Pledge outside the ambit of the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement

So will the Pledge work? 

Wait and watch. Like every climate related announcement and signing, this also needs time for any actual impact to be visible! However, given that some of the biggest countries have not taken the pledge is seems another case of more words than actions. However, not taking the pledge doesn’t mean these countries are not taking any action in this regard and vice versa. And given that actions are voluntary, there is no compulsion on even those taking the pledge to take any real action.

Links:

• Global Methane Pledge: Home Page 
• IEA Methane Tracker: IEA 
• India not signing the pledger: Link

Previously on Learn N Blog: The Energy Trilemma

Learn N Blog #22: The Energy Trilemma

What is it?

the need to find balance between energy security, affordability, and sustainability and its impact on everyday lives.

Who coined it? 

The World Energy Council in 2010. The Index is prepared annually.

What are the Three Elements?

• Energy Security measures a nation’s capacity to meet current and future energy demand reliably with minimal disruption to supplies from any disruption.
• Energy Equity assesses a country’s ability to provide universal access to reliable, affordable, and abundant energy for domestic and commercial use.
• Environmental Sustainability of energy systems represents the transition of a country’s energy system towards mitigating and avoiding potential environmental harm and climate change impacts.

Why the focus?

It’s a balance between short-term pain (definitely) and long-term gain (hopefully). How countries can aim for Net Zero Ambitions while keeping the current energy security in mind. The situation has been exacerbated by the combined impact of the Covid19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns followed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The consequent global supply chain disruptions, increased living costs and global recession fears have just added to the uncertainty.

Countries are looking at securing their own energy resources at the cheapest price. Hence Russian oil is still available at a discount for the willing buyers, coal production has been increased, plans to phase out nuclear power plants have been shelved, there is increased capital expenditure on hydrocarbons as well as renewables! Regulations are being modified to increase the scope of what counts as “clean energy”.

All this to resolve the energy trilemma. It’s not an easy task and there is no one-size-fits-all solution either. After all, each country has their own varied requirements and available resources. And they will have to take their own measures to attain Net Zero!

Links:

• Online tool to track energy trilemma index for each country: World Energy  
• Gas & Nuclear are Green Energy: CNBC 

Previously on Learn N Blog: Lithium Reserves Estimation

LearnNBlog #19: The Hydrogen Rainbow

Climate change concerns have propelled the shift from fossil fuels to alternates in the quest for cleaner energy resources. 

In high school chemistry, Hydrogen was described as a colourless gas. Yet today when we hear talk of a green economy, it is the various shades of Hydrogen hogging the headlines. But what exactly do the different colours signify? The colours indicate the source of Hydrogen and how it has been produced. The primary ones are as follows (and it is an ever expanding spectrum) 

• White: Naturally occurring but of limited commercial value. 
• Brown/Black: Produced by transforming coal into gas. 
• Grey: Produced from Natural Gas through Steam Forming. The most common process currently 
• Blue: Same as grey. However the emissions are captured and stored. 
• Turquoise: Extracted from Natural gas but leaving Solid Carbon as a by-product 
• Pink: Electrolysis using Nuclear Energy 
• Green: Electrolysis using Renewable energy 

For a really clean economy, green hydrogen is "The One" as the others still release carbon emissions! Thus not fully suitable for a Net Zero emissions ambitions being articulated. 

How will this all pan out? Well, the answer is not easy but at least the world is trying before its too late!

Links:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_economy
• https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/clean-energy-green-hydrogen/
• https://energy-cities.eu/50-shades-of-grey-and-blue-and-green-hydrogen/

Previously on Learn N Blog: Ubuntu 

Thanos' Snap & the Aftermath

[Spoilers Ahead – Although it’s been weeks since the movie released, so should not matter] 

In Avengers: Infinity Wars, the central character, Thanos, seeks to bring together all six Infinity Stones, to enable fulfilling his mission to reduce the universe’s population to half, so that the other half can live happily on the remaining resources. The superhero team from across the universe joins forces in a failed attempt to stop him. Thanos succeeds and with a single snap of his fingers, makes every second living entity disappear from the face of this universe. 

What happens next will remain a point of conjecture, till the next movie comes up. In this post lets try to figure out the aftermath from a economics perspective. 

Thanos believes that resources are finite, the universe is overcrowded [a belief shared by every person who spends a considerable part of their day in commute] and the population has grown much beyond sustainable limits. For the betterment of humankind, he intends to destroy half of it. Resulting in the remaining half living happily ever after on effectively double the per capita resources. But does it really work out? 

Assumptions – Only Earth (as we know it) is considered. And the Snap works only on Homo Sapiens. All other life (plant, animal, extra-terrestrial) is spared. 

First, who survives the “snap” and who does not? As per Thanos, it will be a random occurrence. So assume it to be like a coin toss. We don’t know the outcome for each specific event but overall, it will be close to 50-50 heads or tails or in this case, survival or disappearance. 

And what happens to the survivors? Overcoming the initial shock itself will be a herculean task. Every other person just fading away, is too big a shock to easily recover from. They will have to bear with the huge emotional trauma of an unprecedented global scale. Humankind has faced disasters – both man-made (World Wars, atom bombs, terrorist attacks) and natural (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, cyclones) but these have been geographically limited and not on a global level. Here no corner would be spared. 

In the immediate aftermath of the snap, there would be further human losses. Folks in need of care (the sick, the very young and the very old) might not have people around to take care of them. Also, at any given point of time, millions of machines are running under human control (vehicles, industrial plants, utlities etc.), Sudden removal of this control in the immediate aftermath of the "snap", will lead to a multitude of accidents globally. Insurance companies are certainly going to take a major hit on their books from this global catastrophe.

Now coming to the resources bit. Assuming that the natural resources, crops, livestock are spared. Does it mean every survivor now has access to twice the per capita resources? The resource distribution is not homogeneous & neither is the consumption pattern. And more importantly the skill-sets required to manage the resources are differentiated. 

Natural resources – air, water, minerals – would be increased per capita. But managing the utilities will become a major task. 

Perishables will see a lot of wastage, as consumption would be halved (or even less, accounting for trauma and the cascading reductions). 

Supply chains will get severely impacted, with links broken in-between leading to glut of certain items and crunch of others. In an increasingly inter-connected world, breakdown in supply lines for essentials could create major havoc especially in the urban areas.

Labour will be in high demand leading to increased wages. But payment might be in kind and not cash. Barter system might make a sudden comeback. Overall production will reduce due to shortage of workforce. Automation might get a boost, but the number of consumers will also have reduced. So technological innovations might take a back-seat in the immediate aftermath. 

Prices will decline. Real estate will suffer. Owned housing will certainly become more affordable. Other consumer products will also lose selling value. Overall, economy will see a severe deflationary trend. 

The carbon footprint will decline. We might achieve the COP21 targets after all. Less humans will mean more space for the flora and fauna to thrive as well. The ecological balance will undergo a sea-change.

Some nations might have constitutional vacuums, if their leadership disappears. Significant shifts may occur in the geo-political map. Balkanization could become a worldwide phenomenon. Monte Carlo simulations might help predict boundary shift scenarios on the basis of which leadership survives ? 

Overall, the scenario becomes further bleak. Population reduced to less than half, survivors trying to rebuild from the trauma, supply chains broken, breakdown of law and order, territorial disputes, an economy in recession, shift in the ecological balance, climate change under control. In the immediate aftermath, the scenario appears grim for humankind. However, Homo Sapiens are a resilient lot. Life will survive and thrive again but it may take centuries to get things back on track i.e. exploiting our limited resources to the hilt and then some more. And what does the omnipotent, omniscient Thanos do in the interim? Does he wait for the population to grow back to a certain level and "snap" his fingers again or does he undertake regular trims? 

In all, Thanos's snap doesn't quite fufill his objective of making the world a better living place (at least for the humans). And certainly makes no economic sense.

Who is in the Cage?

A typical July Sunday morning in Mumbai. Its raining on and off. Bright and sunny one moment and raining heavily the very next, as if a shower tap has been turned on. 

Heard the sounds of the rain drops and looked out of the kitchen window. And spotted an unusual sight. A squirrel moving around the kitchen grill, probably in search for food or shelter from this sudden rain or maybe both. Up and down the grill it went for a while. Long enough for me to run off, and get my phone for a picture. After a couple of clicks, it probably realized that the infiltration attempt had been noticed. And it disappears from sight.

Such a wonderful shot has to be shared immediately. And so the squirrel gets it moment of fame as its mugshot gets posted across social media. 

The picture got a couple of interesting responses

• "Hard to say who is caged"
• "They will be happy if we don't infiltrate their world"

And as is wont with the human mind, such philosophical thoughts lead to more philosophical thoughts. Yes, it is members belonging to the homo sapiens who have created cages for themselves with their endless needs and wants. As well as the tendency to accumulate for the future. Very few other species think beyond the present moment. Certainly no other thinks beyond the current season. All other species are capable of roaming around as is their wont, but homo sapiens have modified their existence to come back to the cages that they have built for themselves.

And as for the second comment. We have already infiltrated their world and the world of every lving creature on the planet. No other species has caused so much damage to the rest of the eco-system as us. Human activity has changed the very face of the earth, building artificial environments like cities and farms, depleted natural resources and in the process wiped out many plant and animal species. And in spite of having done irreparable damage to the eco-system, there are many amongst us who live in complete denial. 

Had read somewhere that Homo Sapiens are 99% animal and 1% human. And it is the 1% human which is the cause of nearly all the troubles in the world.

COP21 - The Global Climate Deal

Everyone agrees the world is on the brink of a climate disaster. Everyone also agrees that something needs to be done to avoid it. Unfortunately, everyone wants everyone else to take this initiative.

At the COP 21 conference in Paris, leaders from across the world got together and decided to do something about it. After lots of discussions and deliberations, they finally came up with a single agreement on tackling climate change (Proposal). The key areas identified are as follows

• To keep global temperature rise "well below" 2.0C (3.6F) and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C.
• To limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100.
• To review each country's contribution to cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge.
• For rich countries to help poorer nations by providing "climate finance" to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy.

This is major first step but given that we are already losing the climate battle, more needs to be done. It is widely believed that 2C is the maximum global temperature rise beyond which the damage to the environment would be irreversible. Weather patterns are becoming increasingly erratic, floods and droughts are becoming common place and if this pattern continues, some of the small, low lying nations might completely disappear off the face of the Earth, and quite a few animal and plant species will become extinct. Given that the temperatures have already risen by nearly 1C, we are getting closer and closer to the environmental apocalypse. It is certainly a grim picture.

Although an agreement is in place, the action plans and targets set for controlling emissions for each country are voluntary. And this is where complications arise. The developed countries who have already contributed to temperature rise are now keen to ensure that no further rise takes place. The developing nations also aspire a developed status but that would mean an increase in energy consumption which would contribute to the temperature rise. But why would the likes of China and India wish to remain under-developed? They want the developed countries to take a larger burden while ensuring their development continues with the cheaper sources of available energy. 

Then comes the problem of funding. Who will bear the cost of developing more efficient energy sources when fossil fuels are still available cheaply. The world is not going to run out of coal and oil anytime soon. Only drastic climate constraints might lead to the closure of these industries. We certainly need cleaner energy, but it has to be low cost and efficient and easy to use. Till the renewables are able to fulfill these criterion, the hegemony of oil and coal as energy sources will continue.

While the bigger debates go on, as to who does what, there are ways in which individuals can reduce their own carbon footprints and do their tiny bit to save the environment. After all every drop counts. The most obvious way is to consume less, but that's detrimental to the growth of the economy. And if the economy doesn't grow, then investments into better energy resources can't be made, leaving us to consume more hydrocarbons. A vicious cycle. 

But we can as individuals certainly contribute to lower our wastage. And it doesn't even have to be at a very large scale. And these are already known to us - Minimize use of electrical appliances; Don't waste water; Carry a shopping bag to the market; instead of taking plastic bags; Plant trees; Walk instead of driving; Use public transport; Use paper instead of plastic; Do not take prints of every document in office. The printer certainly is the most environmentally-unfriendly item. We print reams and reams of paper, most of which is just thrashed. And there are many more ways we can all do our little bit. Reduce, Reuse & Recycle has to be the mantra.

The success of COP21 can only be measured in the years to come. It certainly is a major step, but we as citizens of the world can certainly do our bit to help the cause. Otherwise...