Carbon Neutrality - A Vision Worth Pursuing For India

Carbon neutrality, or having a net-zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset. It is used in the context of carbon dioxide-releasing processes associated with transportation, energy production, and industrial processes such as production of carbon neutral fuel. In this article, Adv. Karthik S Nair discusses a customized model of carbon neutrality through which India could strive to achieve lowering of its carbon footprints in the years to come.

- Karthik S Nair

Global warming is a phenomenon that has been taking place probably since the birth of our planet itself. Millions of years ago, planet Earth moved out of the ice age as a result of global warming, which is believed to have been a consequence of carbon dioxide accumulation caused by volcanoes. During that phase, the global temperature had increased sufficiently to melt the ice cover that had blanketed huge portions of earth’s landmass. According to NASA, the global temperature had increased by 4–7 °C over a period of 5,000 years since the ice age. It was this natural climate change of our planet that had facilitated the evolution and survival of a wide variety of flora and fauna.

However, in the past century, the global temperature had increased by 0.7 °C and is estimated to increase by 2–6 °C over the coming 100 years (the Paris Agreement strives to restrict it at 2 °C but the prospects are not promising). Experts opine that such a rise in temperature will have devastating effects on the planet. Like slow poisoning, global warming is killing our planet—1 °C at a time. So then the question is: What can we do about global warming?