Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, of the Delhi-based Council for Energy Environment and Water has been appointed as a member of a high-level group constituted by United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, to bolster action against stemming global warming. Mr. Ghosh is among three Asians, and the only South Asian, serving on the expert group.
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The High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities was constituted on March 31 and is expected to draw up an action plan and recommend actions to businesses and non-State actors to accelerate the transition to net-zero, or when carbon emitted by human sources is compensated by sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. Currently, it is mostly countries that have committed to a year by which they would be net-zero. India, for instance, has a 2070 target and the U.S. has committed to a 2050 date.
The 16-member group will be led by Catherine McKenna, former Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the group is tasked with reviewing current standards and definitions for setting net-zero targets; check if proponents have used credibility criteria to assess the objectives, measurement and reporting of net-zero pledges and set out a roadmap to translate standards and criteria into international and national level regulations.
“Governments have the lion’s share of responsibility to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century. Especially the G20. But we also urgently need every business, investor, city, state and region to walk the talk on their net-zero promises,” Guterres said in a statement. “To avert a climate catastrophe, we need bold pledges matched by concrete action. Tougher net-zero standards and strengthened accountability around the implementation of these commitments can deliver real and immediate emissions cuts,” he added.
Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, the world has seen an increasing number of net-zero commitments by non-State actors, in particular from the private and financial sectors, as well as from local government and regions. The growth in pledges has been accompanied by a proliferation of criteria and benchmarks to set net-zero commitments with varying levels of robustness.