With the recent actions of the United States regarding opinions on the human impact of climate change, India and China have agreed to aggressively tackle climate change by reducing CO2 emissions.
China has surged ahead with solar power becoming more and more common, while India is working towards clean energy to combat the intense smog. India is approaching the status of being the most populated country in the world.
Research groups in Europe who are independently owned and operated have noted that the policies and actions of India and China are already having an impact on temperature estimates for the end of the century. The previous estimate was that the average temperature increase was going to be 6.5 degrees Fahrenheit or 3.6 degrees Celsius, while new estimates are that the temperature in 2100 is going to be almost half a degree lower, coming in at 6.1 degrees Fahrenheit or 3.4 degrees Celsius.
Estimates predict that the United States’ decision to leave the Paris Agreement has had an impact on that overall prediction. Estimates are that if the U.S. decided to implement the same policies that other countries are, the temperature estimates would drop by about .32 degrees Celsius. The decision to leave the Paris Agreement was driven in large part to the position of the current administration on the denial of human impacts on climate change.
This is the first time that the temperature estimate for 2100 has dropped since the group began calculating these estimates in 2009, signaling a positive change going forward. The estimates are based on current actions and policy along with the promises and pledges of nations for future actions, which leaves the numbers subject to much change depending on what is actually done versus what is said or promised.
India and China combined have 35 percent of the world’s population and are 1st and 3rd in global emissions, while the U.S. sits at 2nd and averages 15 percent of the entire world’s emissions. Much of the discussion and problems with the agreement were that the U.S. didn’t want to have to contribute the most upfront, but it appears that the other leads of emissions have already stepped up ahead of the 2030 implementation to reduce their impact on the environment and contribution to global warming for the future. Only the future will tell if and when the policies are implemented and how effective they are.
