• March 10, 2023

Meeting India’s ‘carbon sink’ Target

GS2 : Government Policies & Interventions,   GS 3 : Conservation

In Context

• • India’s carbon sink goal is significantly more ambitious and challenging than the other two, which were met approximately eight years before the deadline.

Meaning of ‘carbon sink’

• • A carbon sink is any substance that removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits, such as plants, the ocean, and soil.
    • Protecting carbon sinks is crucial for combating climate change and maintaining a stable climate. However, they are increasingly threatened.
  • Due to the short-term effects of rising temperatures, deforestation, and farming on numerous vulnerable landscapes, it is less likely that carbon stores on land will recover over time.

Carbon Source:

• • A carbon source, in contrast, emits more carbon into the atmosphere than it absorbs, such as the combustion of fossil fuels or volcanic eruptions.

Efforts to enhance carbon sinks

Reversing historical wrongs:

• • •  Numerous efforts are being made to improve natural carbon sinks, primarily soils and forests, in order to combat climate change.
    • These efforts counteract historical trends caused by practises such as deforestation and industrial agriculture, which depleted natural carbon sinks; land use, land-use change, and forestry have historically contributed significantly to climate change.

Artificial sequestrations:

• • •  In addition to enhancing natural processes, investments are being made in artificial sequestration initiatives to store carbon underground or in building materials.

Conservation of Heritage forests:

• • • UNESCO World Heritage forests can continue to function as reliable carbon sinks if they are adequately protected from local and global threats.
      • India’s Sundarbans National Park is one of five global locations with the highest blue carbon stocks.

Challenges of India’s target to increase carbon sink

• • Unlikely to meet the target:

• • According to government data from 2022, the carbon sink in the country, which is the total amount of carbon dioxide absorbed and residing in forests and trees, had increased by 703 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the six years since 2015, or roughly 120 million tonnes per year.
  • At this rate, it was unlikely that the target of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent would be met by 2030.
  • Issues of the baseline year:
  • India’s emissions intensity target established 2005 as the baseline year.
  • Furthermore, the renewable capacity commitment did not require a baseline because it was an absolute goal.
  • In 2015, the carbon sink target had not been precisely defined.
  • India had pledged “to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030 through increased forest and tree cover,” but the baseline year was not specified.
  • Thus, it was not specified against which year this additional 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent would be measured.

• • Ambiguity in “additional” carbon sink: 
    • In an analysis published in 2019, the Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI) pointed out that even the word “additional” in the Indian commitment could be interpreted in different ways.
    • So, “additional carbon sink” could mean 
      • (i) over and above the carbon sink that existed in the baseline year, or
      • (ii) over and above what it would be in the target year of 2030 in the business-as-usual scenario.

Way ahead

Government’s response:

• • Under the Paris Agreement, countries are responsible for setting their own climate targets, which includes choosing a baseline year.
  • The government recently appeared to eliminate uncertainty regarding the baseline year for the carbon sink target by committing to 2005 as the baseline year.
  • The announcement of 2005 as the baseline made the carbon sink goal suddenly attainable.
    • According to the researchers, the carbon sink goal required a comprehensive study, which could not have been completed in a short period of time.
  • Meanwhile, the rate of carbon stock increase in India’s forests and tree cover has been increasing.