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Gs 3||Environment||Climate Change|| Tackling Climate Change

Why in news?

New Zealand’s parliament recently passed the zero carbon law which will commit New Zealand to zero carbon emission by 2050 or sooner.

New Zealand stand’s for environment:

New Zealand passed the new carbon law becomes the first country to pass the law to protect environment and stop carbon emission completely by

emission completely by Demographically New Zealand is under the threat of change in climate change if the temperature globally rises continuously then it will melt the glaciers which will increase the water level of ocean, it can affect New Zealand, more than 40% (wellington and Auckland) of its land mass can sink inside the ocean.

New Zealand is concern about their survival. Ministry of environment has uploaded many articles on their official site highlighting the negative impact on environment due to carbon emission.

New land has always took stand for protecting environment as they ratified the Paris agreement in 2016. They criticized U.S for their stand on Paris climate change and also said that Asian countries are emitting maximum carbon energy.

What is New Zealand’s zero carbon law:

This law comes as a part of the country’s attempt to meet Paris climate accord commitments.

The act is not separate legislation but is an amendment to the existing climate change responses act 2002 .the act is titled climate change response (zero carbon) amendment act.

.the act is titled climate change response (zero carbon) amendment act. The, legislation which was supported ion the both side of the political divide, mandate that is 40 years’ time, the country should produce no greenhouse gases, except methane , as part of the country’s efforts to meet its Paris climate accord commitments.

, as part of the country’s efforts to meet its Paris climate accord commitments. The main objective of the law to limit the temperature increases to 1.5 degree Celsius of global warming. The key aim of the act includes: reduce all greenhouse gases (except methane) to net zero by 2050, reduce emission of biogenic methane (produce from biological sources) up to 24-47 percent below 2017 levels by 2050 and 10 percent below 2017 level by 2030, they are about to establish an independent climate change commission and establish a system of emission budget.

Main reasons for climate change:

Greenhouse gases are one of the main reasons for the climate change. There are group of gases that are responsible for the greenhouse effect including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous dioxide, water vapor, and fluorinated gases.

They have different chemical properties and can gradually increase or decrease from the atmosphere through different processes. The one process that is most pressing at the moment (and has been for the past century) is human activity.

Carbon dioxide accounts for 76 % of the global human-caused emissions. After being released into atmosphere, about 40% stays for 100 years, while 20% remains after 1,000 years and 10% up to 10,000 year later

% of the global human-caused emissions. After being released into and Meanwhile, methane (CH4) stays for less time in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide but it’s much stronger in terms of the greenhouse gas effect. Its global warming impact is 25 times larger than the one of the carbon dioxides in a period of 100 years. It accounts for 16% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Additional info:

The terms ‘net zero emissions’ and ‘carbon neutrality’ is interchangeable . The core meaning of both is the need to achieve ecological balance between activities that emit climate pollution and processes that reduce the impact of that pollution to zero or close to zero.

. The core meaning of both is the need to achieve ecological balance between activities that emit climate pollution and processes that reduce the impact of that pollution to zero or close to zero. Both terms mean a phase out of fossil fuel emissions accompanied by a phase in of energy efficiency and renewable energy complemented by measures to bring down emissions from agriculture and forestry so as to achieve overall ecological balance.

Methane (CH4): Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural practices and by the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills.

Mains oriented question:

While there are so many ongoing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and restrict global greenhouse emission and global warming below 1.5 degree Celsius, there is also effect to adjust human lives in the worlds where average global temperature is rising. Illustrate (200 words)