Why in News? John Kerry, the US’s Special Envoy on Climate, is currently on a three-day visit to India to explore if India can be nudged to drop its hard opposition to 2050 net-zero goal and pledge itself to it.

What is Net-Zero Goal and How to achieve it? It demands a country to compensate its emissions by absorption and removal of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG). Absorption can be increased by creating more carbon sinks such as forests, while removal requires futuristic technologies like carbon capture and storage. No emission reduction targets have been assigned to any country under this goal. If any country exceeds the absorption and removal from actual emissions, it is known to have negative emissions like Bhutan.

Need for Net-Zero Goal- It is the only way to achieve the Paris Agreement target of keeping the planet’s temperature from rising beyond 2°C compared to pre-industrial times as current policies and actions to reduce emissions will not be able to prevent a 3-4°C rise by the turn of the century.

What are India’s Objections? This policy will impact India the most because its emissions are likely to grow at the fastest pace in the world in the coming decades, as it presses for higher growth. This can't be compensated by any amount of afforestation or reforestation and available carbon removal technologies are either unreliable or very expensive. Instead of opting for net-zero targets outside the Paris Agreement, India wants countries to focus on delivering on what they have already promised. It wants to lead by example as being the only G-20 country compliant to the Paris Agreement goal. It does not rule out the possibility of achieving carbon-neutrality by 2050/2060but does not want to make any advance commitment.