December 2020 marks the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement. Five years ago, 195 countries at the 21st United Nations Conference of Parties (CoP), held in Paris (France), agreed that, beginning 2020, they will keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre industrial levels; pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C; and strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.
But what does this mean for our students? Are students aware of the Paris Agreement and their role to help India to meet its pledge to reduce its emissions by 33-35 per cent by 2030? Do they connect the urgency to meet the goal, with climate change (CC) and associated extreme weather events? Are they aware of the urgent need to cut down emissions?
The GSP All India Climate Change Quiz is a step towards creating awareness on the climate crisis. On December 9, close to 400 students had joined the preliminary round of the online quiz to find out where they stood on the CC quotient. On December 16, 20 schools with the highest scores will slug it out for the top honours.