Carbon Bombs - Environment Notes

Carbon Bombs is a proposed oil or gas project that will emit at least a billion tonnes of CO2 throughout its lifespan. When coal, oil, or gas are extracted, they cause pollution and environmental deterioration. Around 195 similar initiatives have been found worldwide, including in the United States, Russia, West Asia, Australia, and India. These projects will together exceed the emissions limit agreed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement. This article explains about Carbon Bombs which is important for UPSC IAS exam preparation.

What are Carbon Bombs?

• Carbon bombs, according to the Guardian, are "an oil or gas project that will result in at least a billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over its lifetime."
• For the past decade, the term "carbon bomb" has been commonly used in climate circles to denote huge fossil fuel projects or other significant carbon sources.
• The term 'carbon bombs' was used by The Guardian in an investigation project. This project involves the intentions of nations and private enterprises all around the world to use "carbon bombs."
• Around 195 similar initiatives have been found worldwide, including in the United States, Russia, West Asia, Australia, and India.
• According to the research, they will jointly exceed the emissions limit agreed upon in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
• The agreement was to limit the global average temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius and strive for a target of 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels - when significant use of coal for industrial purposes began in the mid-nineteenth century, causing a dramatic rise in average world temperatures.

What does the investigation say?

• According to the investigation, more than 60% of these carbon bomb programmes are currently underway.
• Aside from coal, oil, and gas activities, the paper emphasised the dangers of methane, which "routinely leaks from gas operations and is a powerful greenhouse gas, trapping 86 times more heat than CO2 over 20 years."
• It blamed the corporations running these activities, referring to the current situation in which several variables, including the Russia-Ukraine crisis, have resulted in a fall in supply and an increase in demand for gasoline.
• Because Western nations have banned Russian oil, prices have increased, benefiting oil and gas firms.
• The investigation condemned the reliance on conventional fuels and the failure to exploit developing, green energy sources.
• This is a reference to the International Energy Agency, a worldwide institution that has developed a strategy to reduce global carbon emissions to as close to zero as possible by 2050.
• Net zero emissions require that all carbon emissions into the atmosphere be absorbed by measures such as expanding forest cover and reducing man-made emissions.

Carbon emissions

What is the strategy for 'defusing' carbon bombs?

• The network dedicated to this purpose is known as the Leave It In the Ground Initiative (LINGO).
• The organisation's purpose is to "leave fossil fuels in the ground and learn to live without them." It thinks that the combustion of fossil fuels is at the foundation of climate change, and that the answer is to employ 100% renewable energy sources.
• It includes carbon bomb projects from throughout the world. This comprises the Adani Group's Carmichael Coal Project, Coal India's Gevra Coal Mines in Chhattisgarh, and Eastern Coalfields' Rajmahal Coal Mines in eastern Jharkhand.
• LINGO intends to coordinate grassroots opposition to such initiatives, challenge them in court, and perform research and analysis.

Recent News

• A group of environmentalists, attorneys, and campaigners have banded together to discover and 'defuse carbon bombs,' which are coal, oil, and gas projects with the potential to significantly contribute to global warming.
• The term 'carbon bombs' became popular following The Guardian's investigation.
• The research reported on 195 'carbon bomb' initiatives planned by countries and commercial firms all across the world.
• Each of these projects will emit enormous volumes of CO2 into the environment.

Conclusion

Climate change poses a threat to countries all around the world. The climate is continually and intensively changing as a result of human activity. Climate influences many elements of our existence, including food production, transportation, the economy, water, air, wildlife, and health. Our climate is changing dramatically as a result of rising temperatures, with substantial ramifications for future food security, water resources, health, and biodiversity.

FAQs

MCQs

Question: Which one of the following best describes the term ‘greenwashing’? (UPSC 2022)

(a) Conveying a false impression that company’s products are eco-friendly and environmentally sound

(b) Non-inclusion of ecological/environmental costs in the Annual Financial Statements of a country

(c) Ignoring the disastrous ecological consequences while undertaking infrastructure development

(d) Making mandatory provisions for environmental costs in a government project/programme

Question: Which of the following statements is/are correct?

1. The Paris Agreement was adopted by 196 nations at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP 21).
2. It's a legally binding international climate change treaty.
3. The principal objective of the treaty is to keep global warming well below 2° Celsius.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) All of the Above

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