India has given a distant net-zero target and is now asking the world for cash
2070. It’s the most distant net-zero target of any G20 nation, but, as one climate activist in Kolkata, India, told Sky News: “At least it’s a start, although I’ll be dead by then.”
Coming into Glasgow’s COP26 climate summit, India hadn’t updated its previous carbon reduction commitments (or NDCs, Nationally Determined Contributions) pledged during the 2015 Paris climate talks.
It had, also, never set a date for net-zero – achieving a balance between the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere.
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India pledges net-zero by 2070
COP26 latest updates as climate summit begins in Glasgow
But amidst bullish chatter from Indian senior ministers last week that the country didn’t need to bow to international pressure of “setting a date”, the sense from New Delhi was that a target would still come.
And so it was. For 49 years from now.
“Greta has another leader for the blah blah blah club,” reacted one youth activist on social media.
But even a far-seeming target like 2070 will be a huge task for the world’s third-biggest carbon emitter, requiring a massive overhaul of its economy and making enormous demands on its people.
There was no explicit mention of coal in India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech but really that’s the issue that the net-zero target is addressing.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (centre) with Boris Johnson and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at COP26
To make this happen, researchers in India say there will have to be a cap on coal at some point in the next two decades.
And that’s massive. Around 60% of India’s current electricity demand is met by burning coal.
For many poor families, coal is the cheapest fuel they can find for the very basics.
The coal industry itself provides incomes and livelihoods for many hundreds of thousands.
Plus, as the country seeks to lift many of its 1.3 billion out of poverty, energy demands are just going to grow.
India has made a significant domestic investment in renewable energy sources, especially solar and some will hope that, based on current trajectories, maybe that 2070 date could edge forward.
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But that will need investment and Mr Modi set the price tag in his COP26 address.
He called on developed nations for $1trn of climate financing, to help developing nations go green.
India has given the world a date; it’s now asking the world for the dollars.
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China has been branded “a bully” and an international lawbreaker after its ships blasted Philippine vessels with water cannon in the South China Sea.
Sky News was on board the BRP Bagacay when a Chinese vessel fired water at it, causing significant damage.
Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela told Sky News that this week’s confrontation was the first time China had used “such aggression” against their ships.
“The metal parts and the railing were bent. The canopy was also destroyed. So this came as a surprise for us that China never hesitated to use brute force,” he said.
“It completely justifies us calling The People’s Republic of China a bully country.”
Jay Tarriela, a spokesman for the Philippine Coastguard, told Sky News that China is a ‘bully’
The Philippine coastguard was on a resupply mission to the Scarborough Shoal to deliver food and fuel to Philippine fishermen when they were struck.
The submerged reef lies in disputed waters. China claims sovereignty over the reef but it is much closer to the Philippines and lies within its legally recognised exclusive economic zone.
The vessel Sky News was on board was the closest the coastguard had ever been to the shoal – just 600 metres away from it.
Asked if the mission to the shoal was a provocative move by the Philippine coastguard, Commodore Tarriela denied they were “poking the bear” but rather “driving the bear out of our own territory”.
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Sky witnesses China-Philippine confrontation
The Philippines has been stepping up its patrols in the area under the instruction of President Bongbong Marcos, and reasserting its claim to the shoal in recent months.
It has raised the spectre of open conflict. While neither side currently wants that, there is now a greater threat of open conflict.
Asked what the end game was for the Philippines, Commodore Tarriela said their priority was to “tell the world” about China’s aggression.
China’s coastguard fired water at Philippine coastguard vessel BRP Bagacay while Sky was onboard
He said their secondary goal was to ensure “like-minded states” also made China “fall in line and respect international law”.
“Otherwise, it’s everybody’s loss,” he added.
Read more:
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Philippine government policy is not to resist using water cannon against Chinese vessels – and Commodore Tarriela insisted that policy remains in place after the confrontation.
The government also remains intensely determined to protect the waters it believes it has every right to operate in.
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“We’re not going to yield and we’re not going to surrender a square inch of our territory,” Commodore Tarriela insisted.
Beijing has called the action its own coastguard took as “necessary”.
Speaking at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily news conference, spokesperson Lin Jian described the coastguard’s conduct as “professional, proper, and lawful”.
World
Three charged over killing of Sikh separatist leader in Canada – in incident which sparked diplomatic spat with India
Three suspects have been charged by Canadian police over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Vancouver last June, in an incident that sparked a diplomatic spat between Ottawa and New Delhi.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a temple by masked gunmen in Surrey, outside Vancouver, on 18 June 2023.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner David Teboul said police could not comment on the nature of the evidence or the motive.
“This matter is very much under active investigation,” Teboul said.
The three suspects – Indian nationals Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh – were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said: “This investigation does not end here. We are aware that others may have played a role in this homicide and we remain dedicated to finding and arresting each one of these individuals.”
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Canada killing ‘linked’ to India govt
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic feud with India when he said in September that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing. India angrily denied involvement.
Mr Nijjar, an Indian-born citizen of Canada, was a leader in what remains of the Khalistan movement – a once-strong group calling for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland.
He was organising an unofficial referendum in India for an independent Sikh nation at the time of this death and had denied allegations of ties to terrorism.
The Khalistan movement has lost much of its power but is still supported by some in the Punjab state in northwestern India and in the Sikh diaspora overseas.
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A violent, decade-long Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s, and was ultimately crushed in a government crackdown which saw thousands of people killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.
In June 1984, Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar, where separatists had taken refuge.
In more recent years, the Indian government has repeatedly warned that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.
Read more: What is the Khalistan movement?
Mr Trudeau’s accusation angered India PM Narendra Modi. File pic: AP
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The diplomatic row saw diplomats expelled by both India and Canada.
The Indian government said it “completely rejected” Mr Trudeau’s allegations and added: “We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law.”
The dispute derailed trade talks between the two countries and ultimately saw Canada withdraw 41 of its 62 diplomats in India.
At the time, Canada did not provide public evidence to back up Mr Trudeau’s allegations. However, it did reveal the claims were based on intelligence provided by a major ally and surveillance of Indian diplomats in the country.
Heavy rains in southern Brazil have killed 37 people, local authorities have said, with dozens still unaccounted for.
More than 70 people are missing and at least 23,000 people have been displaced in Rio Grande do Sul, according to the state’s civil defence agency.
In some cities, water levels have been at their highest since records began almost 150 years ago, the Brazilian Geological Service said.
It said the flooding is the worst to hit the state in more than 80 years, surpassing that of a historic deluge in 1941.
Roads have been turned into rivers in several towns, with bridges destroyed and the storm triggering landslides and the partial collapse of a dam structure at a hydroelectric power plant.
A drone view of Lajeado in Rio Grande do Sul. Pic: Jeff Botega/Agencia RBS via Reuters
Residents near to a second dam in the city of Bento Goncalves have been ordered to evacuate, as fears of another collapse grow.
“It’s not just another critical situation, it’s probably the most critical case the state has ever recorded,” Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite said on social media.
He added the number of deaths will likely rise as authorities have not been able to reach some locations.
A birds-eye view of the flooding in Sao Sebastiao do Cai, in Rio Grande do Sul. Pic: AP
The devastation in Lajaedo. Pic: Jeff Botega/Agencia RBS via Reuters
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has travelled to the state to visit affected locations and discuss rescue efforts with the governor.
The state is at a geographical meeting point between tropical and polar atmospheres, which has created periods of intense rains and others of drought.
Scientists believe the pattern has been intensifying due to climate change.
Roads have been turned into rivers in several towns. Pic: AP
Heavy rains hit the state last September, as an extratropical cyclone caused floods that killed more than 50 people.
That came after more than two years of a persistent drought due to the La Nina phenomenon.
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