India and the US have emerged as the top performers among the G20 nations in implementing climate policies, an analysis by the Guardian has found. The G20 economies over the past nine years introduced several policies aimed at curtailing CO2 emissions following the 2016 Paris Agreement. Thanks to the steps taken so far by nations like India and the US among others, the world will now reduce CO2 discharges by 6.9 gigatons by 2030, according to a report by Climate Action Tracker.
However, efforts by these nations were still not enough to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to 2C above preindustrial levels.
In a major achievement, the CO2 emissions are now projected to return to 2015 levels by the end of this decade. In contrast, previous studies showed that the CO2 emissions would rise by 20 per cent between 2015 and 2030.
Leonardo Nascimento, an analyst at Climate Action Tracker, was quoted by Guardian as saying that this was a major silver lining. “This is nothing to brush off. This is a major improvement in the group of countries covering more than 80% of global emissions,” Nascimento added.
“There is progress at the international level. I completely disagree that Cop is a useless process.”
The analyst also acknowledged major climate strides coming from other developing nations such as China. The world’s second-largest economy has invested heavily in renewables and is forecast to hit some of its 2030 climate targets six years early and perhaps peak its CO2 output next year.
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“It is not just developed countries that are doing a lot, it is also developing nations with big populations and big inequality,” Nascimento said.
The expert also hoped that global emissions may peak by the end of next year.
(With inputs from agencies)