Role of independent power producers in emission reduction
The Indrawati Hydropower Station, Nepal’s first private sector hydropower project that commenced operations in 1993, has conducted a study to assess its impact on carbon emissions reduction. The study revealed an annual reduction of 41,000 tons of CO2, 62 tons of SO2, and 46 tons of NOx, along with the substitution of 1,616,141 tons of charcoal. Despite these significant achievements, the project has not been able to secure compensation from the climate fund. Given the evolving context, it is evident from the statistics that private hydropower projects, such as the Indrawati Hydropower Station, have made substantial contributions to reducing carbon emissions. Projects of this nature should be eligible for facilities from the climate fund.
In recent times, climate change has impacted Nepal's government-private hydropower projects and power plants. Two critical aspects need consideration in this context: evaluating the reduction in carbon emissions by projects promoted by the private sector and assessing the loss and damage caused by climate change. A comprehensive research effort is essential to collect relevant data. The Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) and hydropower promoters should take needful initiatives in this regard. This is because income generation from hydropower should not only be their focus; attention must also be given to how a sustainable economy can contribute to the national economy, aligning with the United Nations’ call for adopting Sustainable Development Goals within the next decade.
Since 1992, the private sector has invested or is preparing to invest Rs 1,800bn in the hydropower sector. Despite challenges like the lack of transmission lines, hydropower promoters have invested a substantial amount of money in projects with a combined capacity of 42,000 megawatts. Apart from equity investments by the private sector, banks have contributed approximately 60 percent of this fund. This also includes investments by the state-owned power utility and the general public through public offerings. This confirms that energy production, a cornerstone of the green economy, has significantly contributed to reducing carbon emissions. The direct and indirect investment of citizens has increased, making a noteworthy national contribution to the critical issue of hydropower.
Examining global statistics on carbon emissions from excessive fossil fuel use and industry, the world emitted about 37.124bn tons of carbon in 2021, as per Our World in Data. Nepal’s carbon emissions during the same year were only about 0.014bn tons, accounting for 0.038 percent of the total global carbon emissions. Despite this negligible negative contribution, Nepal bears the brunt of global climate change effects. The primary reason for the increasing carbon emissions in Nepal is the growing use of imported fossil energy. To achieve a sustainable economy and reduce emissions, it is crucial to transition to green and clean energy.
While COP28 participants remain divided on the phasing out of fossil fuels, Nepal, with the potential to produce affordable green hydrogen, can leverage its position. The fossil fuel reserves may deplete, but by storing green hydrogen, Nepal can attract global interest and investment in green technology development. Nepal annually imports petrol, diesel, and LP gas worth Rs 500-600bn. Replacing these imports with hydrogen fuel can contribute to self-sufficiency in iron and urea fertilizer production. Additionally, converting hydrogen into ammonia for export could boost Nepal's income and sovereign credit rating.
Nepal's neighboring countries, such as India and China, are significant importers of fossil fuels. India imports fossil fuel worth $160bn annually, and China relies heavily on gray energy. Nepal, despite its minimal contribution to emissions, faces environmental challenges due to industrial pollution in these countries. Nepal should exert pressure on developed nations to attract domestic and foreign investment for green technology and energy. The upcoming Nepal Investment Summit in April presents an opportunity to position Nepal as an attractive destination for green and clean energy investments. Conducive policies and laws should be established to facilitate businesses in this regard.
IPPAN’s role
While there was no prior preparation for participation in the COP28, we participated in the global climate conference. During COP28, we held discussions with key individuals and organizations, including those from Japan, China, India, the USA, the United Arab Emirates, and the European Union. Topics included information about climate fund operations, technology preparedness, and experiences in reducing carbon and using hydrogen equipment. A particular emphasis was placed on understanding the carbon fund’s payment process and how hydropower plants and energy projects can directly benefit from it.
Discussions also covered the unprecedented climate change-related damages incurred by various hydropower projects and power stations in Nepal’s eastern regions due to floods and landslides last year. Insights were gathered on claiming compensation for loss and damage, managing procedures, and fund operations.
It is crucial to ensure clarity on how Nepal’s private sector can directly benefit from climate funds received from developed countries through the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. IPPAN, in collaboration with national and international agencies, should actively engage in discussions about the climate fund, payment for carbon emissions reduction, and the implementation of government action plans. IPPAN should also advocate for the representation of its officials in the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation National Implementation Plan chaired by the Prime Minister. Establishing a dedicated climate task force and coordinating with relevant entities will be instrumental in realizing these objectives.
Some positives of content creation for Nepal
In today’s world, content creation involves more than just having a meaningful thing to say or a relevant issue to speak on. The formal, editing and designing aspect of the content is also important to creators. With more avenues for formal control, social media websites can expect to grow in user-base, and creative engagement with those websites might also take place for longer durations.
Popular apps like Snapchat and Tiktok (recently banned in Nepal) are examples where editing and designing videos is a user-centric process. Such a process allows users to feel more ‘in charge’ of their content, and thus motivates them to create more. A service which withheld such creative control would not prove as satisfying to users, even if it allowed wide dissemination of their content.
The uptake of such apps and services in the Nepali public can be attributed not only to the opportunity to raise voice but also to show one’s skills in communication and expression. Views, reactions and comments reward and recognize the ability to present in media in tandem with the words and ideas presented. In short, not just what you say but how you say it is more important than before.
It is in part due to the disabling of ‘expression’ (how one says something) and not just curtailment of content (or ‘speech’—what one says) that there has been an outcry over the loss of freedoms since the popular TikTok app got banned by the Nepal government. Freedom of expression is concerned with more than just publishing of the content. It is concerned with how proactively one arrived at that content. Users want the government to see that doing an investigation and/or processing available data in depth are instances of the meaningful work behind an act of expression published online.
Synthetic media
A technology which has been prevalent since the advent of computers, but which has grown significantly more sophisticated today, is ‘synthetic media.’ It is about to make content creation even more exciting. Synthetic media is any media (in visual, audio and/or text format) that has been made using computers. Of late, Artificial Intelligence has been used to create synthetic media. For example, in text-based synthetic media services (ChatGPT is an example), a textually articulated idea can be transformed into a news article or essay that the service produces by itself.
In the near future, creation of sophisticated synthetic media will be inexpensive and efficient. This bodes well for certain sections of Nepali society. Small-businesses can create advertisements for their products using synthetic media, thereby sidestepping a costly production process. In a different case, teachers can use synthetic media to present their ideas more clearly. For one, if preliminary ideas are acquired with relative ease due to the use of synthetic media in presenting, then the more technical and cutting-edge education can also be made part of the curriculum.
Extremely pertinently for Nepal’s case, synthetic media can help with public messaging on critical issues such as health and discrimination. Development organizations can create videos that are able to vividly represent the problems that they want to address. Effective communication of such societal problems would enable communities themselves to deliberate and enact solutions.
In all, a positive picture
With the use of synthetic media, Nepal’s media landscape is likely to be both representative of a diversity of voices and rich with meaningful expression. But, the potential to create meaningful content needs to be harnessed more strongly in our case. At the very least, there is a need to look carefully to see whether a rural-urban gap is developing in the production of content.
To gain a more organized outcome from a technological resource, the particular roles that it can play for particular groups needs to be explored clearly first. Thereafter, policies must be made with a clear goal of supporting positive outcomes for each of the groups using the technology.
Can hills of Nepal work as view towers?
Nepal, predominantly characterized by its hilly terrain, with hills covering 80.7 percent of the land, boasts numerous valleys and lakes, resembling natural view towers.
During my recent visit to Los Angeles, situated at the foothills of California, specifically Norwalk and Riverside, I marveled at the landscapes. Riverside, nestled at the base of hills, offers well-constructed trails that allow people to ascend and enjoy panoramic views of various cities. From atop one of these hills, I beheld the picturesque landscapes of Riverside, Moreno Valley, San Diego, Ontario, Los Angeles, and beyond. These cities, surrounded by hills on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, create a captivating spectacle.
Similarly, in Nepal, regions such as Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara, Surkhet, and Dang are embraced by hills, presenting a tremendous opportunity for the tourism industry. Nepal has the potential to develop trails providing access to these hills. By investing in road construction and cable cars, millions of visitors could be enticed to explore these elevated terrains. The breathtaking views of cities and the Himalayas from these natural view towers can be a significant attraction, much like the view towers of southern California. Constructing hiking trails on these hills can be achieved at a minimal cost, exemplified by the natural view towers in Pokhara, offering stunning vistas of the lake city.
However, the challenge lies in the lack of awareness and vision among Nepali rulers and decision-makers regarding how and where to allocate scarce resources. Random decision-making appears to be the norm, with little role for expert input. Political leaders often operate with self-interest, leading to decisions that benefit a select few. The absence of a coherent national agenda for development is evident, and questioning the actions of political parties seems futile.
Nepal can draw inspiration from iconic landmarks like the Hollywood Gate, which serves as a view tower for Los Angeles. Similarly, a hill in San Diego, housing an army camp, functions as a view tower offering stunning perspectives of the city and the Pacific Ocean.
Nepal is in a learning phase, acknowledging imperfections and seeking improvement. While mistakes are inevitable, the ability to learn from them is paramount. The prevailing egoism among rulers takes precedence over self-sacrifice, a fundamental quality for fostering a healthy and prosperous economy. Unfortunately, self-interest permeates Nepalese society, giving rise to nepotism, favoritism, and corruption. Policy decisions often legitimize these practices, hindering positive progress.
In contrast to constructing view towers, Nepal could invest in an eight-foot-wide road along the hills, facilitating trekking to hilltops. Redirecting resources from constructing towers to building footpaths around the hills of Kathmandu Valley could create a network of accessible viewpoints. Numerous spots could serve as small view towers, allowing people to appreciate the scenic beauty of the Kathmandu Valley hills. This strategic approach could offer a more sustainable and immersive experience for both locals and tourists.
Inverted amid climate crisis and global warming
Naomi Klein, a prominent Canadian author and professor, mentions in her book “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate” with a remarkable example that climate change is not just a plight, but the developed political systems along with the economic forces are connected deeply together to form a capitalist society. So is it, entire superpowers are unfaithfully heading toward capitalism. The deep-rooted insights of capital society are a lion's share now-a-days.
Klein's resistance toward globalization seems to be more precise and the momentum of 'glocalization' in her volume can have a unique blend of globalization and localization. Over the global hotcakes, climate change and global warming seem more awakening but turning a blind eye to these issues can result in long-term impacts. The agency for regulation and monitoring over climate change, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the umbrella of Conference of the Parties (COP), seems to have a regular meeting among partners globally but the execution remains poor. Are the partners worldwide just putting the demonstrating concur?
A brand new concept of climate capitalism emerged in around 1999 with the version of reformation over global energy consumption inequalities that have existed hitherto. It is supposed as a sequential rethinking of ideas that prerequisite to be addressed using various marketing tendencies. Here, the idea behind climate capitalism is to shift investment away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and renewable energy sources through financial means. Carbon markets and carbon taxes are two examples of these methods.
As in Naomi's volume mentioned earlier, the economic aspects of energy consumption can benefit both from the holistic market move and idea shifting from the existing fossil era to the new superconductor era. Where needed, return can be maintained from power corporations by developing the culture of green energy.
Global rethinking
Post-COP and UNFCCC operating under the optimal level of thinking relates to a low emission of carbon by superpowers, under the agreement and negotiations, does this phenomenon stand as a milestone now? Of course not. Then how will LDCs make efforts when their optimal level of carbon release is comparatively low? On this issue, the whole world needs to think again and again for a solid outcome. If not, the bearing and rearing capacity of the Earth will inevitably be lost.
The climatic crisis portrays thoughtful snags that are being likely caused by changes in the global weather generally, the global warming. They are impacting the flora and fauna very severely. Harmful human activities that cause increased carbon dumping in the atmosphere include unhealthy use of plastic-based materials, increased CO2 and CO emissions, deforestation and more. The carrying capacity of the Earth is also related to the overall population growth, global warming and climatic condition of the universe. Earth bears the capacity of absorbing the heat from the sun but carries no emission capacity, making it a greenhouse of sorts.
Rethinking about the reformation of global climatic concerns carries a holistic and multi-faceted reality. Sustainable development envisioned by Brundtland Commission (1987) aimed for a common future must be directed toward these hotcakes i.e. global warming and climatic crisis. It is also notable that the theme of these two recent agendas are also part and parcel of sustainable development by which the entire world is bounded. It is also rational that sustainability achieved in climate change and global warming can be a great milestone if the world leaders make it actionable.
Where is the effect?
In recent years, global warming is leading to coastal erosion, flooding and rise in the sea level, causing the nations connected to the sea to shrink. Tuvalu, a country in the South Pacific, is a good example. Rise in temperatures affects the whole planet, including the marine ecosystem and the Himalayas, resulting in effects like glacial lake outburst floods, flooding and landslides, affecting fragile ecosystem of the Himalayas and the lower reaches. Nepal, Pakistan and north polar regional countries are grappling with severe impacts of climate disasters resulting from rising temperatures. It is assumed that by 2030, in summer there will be no sea ice left in the arctic region. Forests have been witnessing profound effects of global warming, including increase in instances of forest fire and disruption of forest ecosystems.
The melting of ice in the poles is behind rising sea levels and coastal erosion, which have been affecting beings such as seals, polar bears and penguins. Extreme temperatures have also affected the seasons. Human life is under increased threat due to an increase in cases of diseases such as malaria, skin ailments and acid rain.
Coping with adverse climate
Nepal is a landlocked country with mountains and a diversified natural environment that is particularly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. These repercussions include melting glaciers, erratic rainfall, floods, landslides, droughts and the extinction of several animal and plant species. Nepal participated actively in the past editions of Conference of Parties (COPs) and presented its Nationally Determined Contributions, outlining its plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance resilience and adaptation. Nepal has also come to an agreement over the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. The rights and interests of the mountainous and least developed countries (LDCs) get due attention at least during international climate negotiations.
Wrapping up, let’s hope that the host UAE’s announcement of " Accelerating the Transition", made during COP-28, will help make Planet Earth a more livable place by reducing soaring temperatures and curbing climate change, providing some relief to the most vulnerable countries like Nepal.
