🔆 UNEP’s ‘Overshoot, Peak & Decline’ Pathway — Climate Change
📍 Why in News?
🟢 UNEP’s Limiting Overshoot report warns that breaching the 1.5°C warming limit could cause irreversible losses that adaptation cannot undo.
📍 Key Facts
🟢 Even if all countries fulfil their current climate pledges, warming could reach 1.8°C; under current policies, it could reach 2.6°C.
🟢 The report proposes an “overshoot, peak and decline” pathway — temporarily exceeding 1.5°C, limiting the peak as much as possible, and bringing warming below 1.5°C by 2100.
🟢 Methane accounts for about 0.5°C of current warming and offers significant scope for near-term warming reduction.
🟢 155+ countries have joined the Global Methane Pledge, targeting a 30% reduction in anthropogenic methane from 2020 levels by 2030. India is not a member.
🟢 India stresses climate justice, adaptation finance and affordable technology, given its relatively low per-capita emissions and vulnerability to climate impacts.
📍 India’s Challenge
🟢 India must balance development needs and climate action while addressing perceptions that major developing economies are also contributing to global warming.
🟢 The focus should shift towards adaptation, resilience, methane reduction and climate finance, alongside long-term decarbonisation.
📍 UPSC Mains Practice
Q. The 1.5°C target is increasingly becoming a challenge of managing climate overshoot rather than merely preventing it. Discuss the implications for India’s climate policy.
(10 Marks | 150 Words)
#Environment
1September 7, 2026 531 4
