SOUTH ASIA

transnatiOnal cOnnectivity...

CoNtD. FRoM Pg 8

q: are there elements of other countries’ diaspora policies that would work in australia that we should consider adopting?

a: The country that we could look at more closely is singapore which has begun to consider how to take advantage of approximately 10 percent of the singaporean residents who are not singaporean citizens. singapore has begun to ask how it can support them and how it can take advantage of their links to their countries of origin, even if they are not migrants or citizens. singapore has begun to ask: ‘how can we value the contribution of those diaspora communities of other countries, including australians, who are living in our midst?’. In australia, discussions of diaspora policy have largely been about the question of how to support australians who are living abroad, and not also on how to work with those transient communities who live in australia and can potentially make a major contribution, more than filling the gaps in the labour market.

q: turning to higher education, what’s your analysis of the global alumni strategies of universities in australia?

a: These strategies represent one way of capturing the continuing emotional bond that many of the alumni of australian universities understandably have with australia, after spending three to eight years here. many of these alumni are ‘flexible citizens’, as the anthropologist, aihwa Ong, called them some two decades ago. some of them have taken out australian citizenship and settled in australia, others have gone to another country, while some have returned to their country of origin. a large number of asian alumni of australian universities are now living in europe or the united states studying for their phD or have a job and have settled there. Just the same, they have a great fondness for australia. global alumni strategies are designed to ensure that the universities do not lose contact with these people, many of them retain close links with australia, as well as their country of origin and their new country of residence. In this way, they are transnationally connected, capable of forging highly productive networks transnationally. The alumni strategies can therefore be most helpful, but the universities have yet to determine how and to what ends.

q: How have the effects of the CoVID-19 pandemic and the current bilateral tensions between australia and China affected your thinking in relation to the arguments you’ve been articulating?

a: I think we are in a tough place in relation to China. exactly how China-australia trade relations are going to develop over the next ten years or so is very difficult to predict. I am not sure how, and the extent to which, the recent announcement about the auKus alliance and australia’s intended acquisition of nuclear submarines might damage our relations with China. unfortunately, many of such macro-level policies affect the relationships between people to people at a very micro level. for example, conscious of the tensions, individual bureaucrats in China might delay giving you the licence that is needed to engage in trade because they consider australia to be an unfriendly country. geopolitical tensions also have the potential to prevent good relations from developing, when Chinese-australians, for example, become fearful about pursuing trade relations through their transnational networks, or australians might decline an invitation to visit China. such macro-level geopolitical tensions affect individuals making decisions at a very micro level. effective transnational relations in trade require confidence in the agencies of the state, but geopolitical tensions make this difficult. when we were researching the 2016 report on asian diaspora in australia there were a few interviewees who alerted us to such the thenemerging problems, but most were confident that they would be able to overcome the difficulties. They were reasonably hopeful that the relationship between China and australia would get better. It has not. If we went back and interviewed the same people now I am sure we would not get such enthusiastic and positive perceptions of australia-China relations. They would not be so confident about building transnational networks for economic, political and cultural exchange. even australian schools that were planning to develop a relationship with Chinese schools are now somewhat hesitant. The potential of public diplomacy has always been affected by government-to-government relations. It becomes much more complex, difficult and challenging when there are broader tensions between nation-states.

The extent to which the current geopolitical tensions will affect the number of university students from China is not clear. and yet australian universities have become absolutely reliant on this source of income. The planning processes at many universities have long factored in continuing growth in student numbers from China. some had invested in capital and other works on the assumption that there would be a two percent increase every year for the foreseeable future. They might have even taken out loans on the basis of this assumption. If this assumption cannot be taken for granted, then I have no idea what implications this will have for their financial planning. I am not a university financial planner, but I know enough to be able to say that bilateral tensions between australia and China are not a good thing for australian universities.

q: Where do you see the higher education sector in australia, especially those universities very exposed to the international student market, in the short to medium term, say in three to five years’ time?

a: The consumer research conducted over the past 18 months shows very clearly that the interest that students and their parents in China and India have to send their children to australia remains high. It may have even grown, as many Chinese and Indians try to position themselves in the rapidly changing world differently. International education could be viewed as a possible ticket out of India or China, or other countries. In this sense, there are reasons for optimism. The other ways of looking at the student market point in a different direction. It will depend on whether mobility across borders will even be possible; whether australian higher education will remain as strong as it has been; or whether everything is going to be affected by cost-cutting, making australia a less attractive study destination. There is already some evidence that many students are wondering whether australia remains the best option for them. The stories about racism directed against asian students in australia have clearly not been helpful, because they shape the imagination of the people of what life in australia is like. Those are some factors that are also going to discourage potential students from coming to australia, including perceptions of declining quality and policy uncertainty. australian universities and the australian government will have to think very seriously about these issues, but I am not sure that there is much imaginative policy work being done. for example, the government might have to consider the possibility of offering permanent citizenship to international students sooner, rather than making them wait for two or more years to apply and then go through a complex process that takes 18 months or more and costs a huge amount of money. In other words, the government might have to incentivise potential students with the ‘carrot’ of migration, not as a possibility but as a direct outcome of higher education in australia. I don’t think the australian government, or the australian community, is going to like that idea. but I am saying that these are the kind of policy considerations that are necessary for us to think about in relation to the recovery of student numbers. yet there does not appear to be any indication that these policy issues are being examined in any systematic or creative manner. what kind of creative thinking do you think universities should be undertaking?

To begin with, they should be trying to understand how a transnational public space has already emerged and consider what are its opportunities and what challenges it presents. we live in an interconnected world, and, beyond the commercial aspects of internationalisation, we should examine what new forms of transnational connectivity mean for universities, their curriculum and their pedagogic approaches. for example, issues such as the global environmental crisis, the global mobility of people and refugees raise questions about the shifting nature of our inter-connectivity. such questions demand us to consider what kind of education is appropriate for students experiencing what is called a ‘risk society’. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of these issues. an emphasis on the recovery of student numbers is important, but there are more fundamental educational questions about our interconnectivity and interdependence. I know that universities have many new challenges and they are inevitably shell-shocked, but I do not think that the broader questions about the core purposes of higher education, and its governance, can be set aside.

q: Perhaps you could reflect more on the broad trends of transnationalism and diasporic communities shaping higher education in the context of australia. How do you see them playing out?

a: I want to say again that global interconnectivity is here to stay. The rates of global mobility may be declined as a result of COVID-19, but the mobility of ideas and culture have not—they have produced new forms of inter-connectivity. we may be in a very different global terrain. while the mobility of people has gone down significantly, the mobility of information and ideas has intensified, through online learning, online seminars and other modes of communication across borders. In my view, the importance of sharing of knowledge and ideas has never been greater.

I have great faith in the potential of higher education being able to do all kinds of exciting things in terms of global inter-connectivity, transnational conversations, exploration of ideas, creativity and innovation. my fear is that this potential might be not be realised because of the excessive reliance on the market model of international education, and the managerialism that has become so ubiquitous in higher education systems in australia and elsewhere. we need to abandon the narrow instrumentalism that now dominates the thinking about higher education. exactly how all this will turn out remains to be seen. my suspicion is that universities may become highly differentiated, with some leading boutique universities doing certain kinds of knowledge work while the rest become sites of mass teaching.

Transnational connectivity is going to remain part of how we understand the nature of the global economy and the globalising culture. In the shifting constitution of societies, I have no doubt, the diaspora communities will play a major role. higher education will be a site where these diasporas are forged and cultivated. The connections that international students make at universities both within and beyond australia have the potential to transform the character of our communities, but also of the countries of their origin.

Source- Melbourne Asia Review (Under Creative Commons Licence)

10 South Asia Times SOUTH ASIA SOUTH ASIASouTh ASiA TimeS south asia abOrtiOn in india: bridging tHe gap between prOgressive legislatiOn and implementatiOn

By SeeraT ChaBBa

nEW DELHI, 18 November 2021: When India first passed its abortion legislation in 1971, it was one of the most progressive laws in the world. Fifty years and an amendment later, the country is struggling to offer rights-based abortion care.

Shilpa (name changed) found out she was pregnant at the age of 21. She had just enrolled herself into graduate school in India's commercial capital of Mumbai. Distraught and alone in a big city, she took an autorickshaw to the nearest hospital and got an appointment with a gynecologist.

Braving judgmental glances, the first question that she had to answer was: "Are you married?" In many parts of India, this question is asked when the doctor wants to know whether the person has been sexually active. Premarital sex remains taboo.

Eight months after medically terminating her pregnancy, Shilpa moved to Bangalore for her first job. A few weeks later, she began receiving calls from odd numbers. Multiple men called her at different times — day and night — and asked her questions like "Did you kill your child?" "Do you have a husband?" "Are you sleeping with other men?"

Her contact details had been leaked, either from the first hospital she visited or the gynecologist's clinic. But no one took responsibility for the harassment she faced. Finally, she blocked all unknown callers and changed her phone number.

India has some of the most progressive legislation when it comes to reproductive rights. However, the social stigma attached to abortion, in conjunction with a lack of knowledge about a woman's rights, leads to several harrowing incidents like the one Shilpa had to face.

whaT are The ChangeS?

In order to provide comprehensive abortion care to all in need, the government of India recently amended the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971. The new legislation means the upper gestation limit for several categories — including survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women — has been increased from 20 weeks to 24 weeks.

Under the penal code it’s a crime to get an abortion, but with the MTP in place, exceptions are permitted in such instances. Others can also get the procedure if they have the consent of the doctor before 20 weeks.

This limit does not apply to cases of substantial fetal abnormalities diagnosed by a medical board.

In addition to this, the opinion of two health care providers is required for the termination between 20-24 weeks. Before this period, only one provider's opinion is required.

Finally, the bill introduced a confidentiality clause, under which the name and other particulars of women cannot be revealed except to a person who has been authorized by law.

The new rules aim to extend MTP services to unmarried women under the failure of contraceptive clause, providing access to safe abortion by choice and not marital status. "This is a win for the collective wish of women in India. The amendments have increased the ambit and access of women to safe and legal abortion services," Dr. Sumita Ghosh, additional commissioner at the Comprehensive Abortion Care, Child Health and Adolescent Health, on behalf of the Indian government, said in a statement.

But reproductive rights organizations say legislation is just the first step in the right direction.

LegaLiTy VS. PraCTiCe

While India's abortion laws were not rights-based, at the time the MTP Act was passed, in 1971, it was one of the most progressive pieces of legislation on reproductive rights in the world.

Fifty years later, the basic purpose of the law remains the same: to protect providers as abortion remains a crime under the Indian Penal Code, according to the Pratigya Campaign, a network of individuals and organizations working towards protecting and advancing women's rights and their access to safe abortion care in India. "In spite of the amendments passed, it is still not legislation that advances women's rights or ensures dignity and justice. Women and girls will continue to face significant barriers in accessing safe abortion in India," the Pratigya Campaign network said.

The biggest barrier remains the "failure of contraception" clause. While this is often seen as a free pass where the medical practitioner takes the decision based on good faith, it is completely dependent on the attitude of the doctor.

In many cases, pregnant women are asked for proof of identity or even marriage certificates before the doctor signs off on the procedure. There are no safeguards to prevent exploitation. "A great opportunity to craft a truly progressive, rights-based abortion law for the country has been missed," the Pratigya coalition said.

BeaTing The STigMa

For a country that claims to have progressive abortion laws, India also sees unsafe abortions as the third-leading cause of maternal deaths. Close to 80% of Indian women have no idea that abortion within 20 weeks can be legal.

The concept of choice remains a precarious one in the Indian setting. "In a country of 1.36 billion, there are only around 50,00070,000 OB-GYNs (obstetriciangynecologists)," Dr. Suchitra Dalvie, a gynecologist and co-founder of the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership, told DW. "Most of these are based in cities or towns, and not all of them are either pro-choice or undertaking abortion provision."

Referring to the amendments as a story of missed opportunities, she outlined some major themes that she says were missed, including the shift of power from the health care providers to the individual who did not want to continue the pregnancy.

In addition to not changing the language to reflect "pregnant persons" and not women, which Dalvie says would have made the law trans-inclusive, the amendments do not increase the pregnant person's autonomy and agency or take a step towards decriminalizing abortions.

The amendments also cannot ensure that no one is turned away or forced into an unsafe abortion, or provide for better access to medical abortion pills. "I come from a position of privilege but that didn't stop someone from harassing me over my choice," Shilpa told DW. "For millions of women who don't have access to legal recourse, abortion care remains a distant dream."

farmers win On many frOnts, media fails On all

BY P. SaINatH

the repeal of the three farm laws came about not because the pm failed to ‘persuade’ some farmers, but because many farmers stood resolute, even as a craven media devalued their struggle and strength. what the media can never openly admit is that the largest peaceful democratic protest the world has seen in years – certainly the greatest organised at the height of the pandemic – has won a mighty victory. a victory that carries forward a legacy. farmers of all kinds, men and women – including from adivasi and Dalit communities – played a crucial role in this country’s struggle for freedom. and in the 75th year of our Independence, the farmers at Delhi’s gates reiterated the spirit of that great struggle. prime minister modi has announced he is backing off and repealing the farm laws in the upcoming winter session of parliament starting on the 29th of this month. he says he is doing so after failing to persuade ‘a section of farmers despite best efforts’. Just a section, mind you, that he could not convince to accept that the three discredited farm laws were really good for them. not a word on, or for, the over 600 farmers who have died in the course of this historic struggle. his failure, he makes it clear, is only in his skills of persuasion, in not getting that ‘section of farmers’ to see the light. no failure attaches to the laws themselves or to how his government rammed them through right in the middle of a pandemic. well, the Khalistanis, antinationals, bogus activists masquerading as farmers, have graduated to being ‘a section of farmers’ who declined to be persuaded by mr. modi’s chilling charms. refused to be persuaded? what was the manner and method of persuasion? by denying them entry to the capital city to explain their grievances? by blocking them with trenches and barbed wire? by hitting them with water cannons? by converting their camps into little gulags? by having crony media vilify the farmers every day? by running them over with vehicles – allegedly owned by a union minister or his son? That’s this government’s idea of persuasion? If those were its ‘best efforts’ we’d hate to see its worst ones.

The prime minister made at least seven visits overseas this year alone (like the latest one for Cop26). but never once found the time to just drive down a few kilometres from his residence to visit tens of thousands of farmers at Delhi’s gates, whose agony touched so many people everywhere in the country. would that not have been a genuine effort at persuasion? from the first month of the present protests, I was barraged with questions from media and others about how long could they possibly hold out ? The farmers have answered that question. but they also know that this fantastic victory of theirs is a first step. That the repeal means getting the corporate foot off the cultivator’s neck for now – but a raft of other problems from msp and procurement, to much larger issues of economic policies, still demand resolution.

The anchors on television tell us – as if it is a stunning revelation – that this backing off by the government must have something to do with the upcoming assembly elections in five states next february.

The same media failed to tell you anything about the significance of the bypoll results in 29 assembly and 3 parliamentary constituencies announced on november 3. read the editorials around that time – see what passed for analysis on television. They spoke of ruling parties usually winning bypolls, of some anger locally – and not just with the bJp and more such blah. few editorials had a word to say about two factors influencing those poll results – the farmers’ protests and Covid-19 mismanagement. mr. modi’s announcement today shows that he at least, and at last, has wisely understood the importance of both those factors. he knows that some huge defeats have taken place in states where the farmers’ agitation is intense. states like rajasthan and himachal – but which a media, parroting to its audiences that it was all punjab and haryana, could not factor into their analyses. when last did we see the bJp or any sangh parivar formation come third and fourth in two constituencies in rajasthan? Or take the pasting they got in himachal where they lost all three assembly and one parliament seat?

In haryana, as the protestors put it, “the entire government from Cm to Dm” was there campaigning for the bJp; where the Congress foolishly put up a candidate against abhay Chautala, who had resigned on the farmers’ issue; where union ministers pitched in with great strength – the bJp still lost. The Congress candidate lost his deposit but managed to shave a bit off Chautala’s margin – he still won by over 6,000 votes. all three states felt the impact of the farmers’ protests – and unlike the corpo-crawlers, the prime minister has understood that. with the impact of those protests in western uttar pradesh, to which was added the self-inflicted damage of the appalling murders at lakhimpur Kheri, and with elections to come in that state in perhaps 90 days from now, he saw the light.

In three months’ time, the bJp government will have to answer the question – if the opposition has the sense to raise it – of whatever happened to the doubling of farmers’ incomes by 2022? The 77th round of the nss (national sample survey, 201819) shows a fall in the share of income from crop cultivation for farmers – forget a doubling of farmer incomes overall. It also shows an absolute decline in real income from crop cultivation.

The farmers have actually done much more than achieve that resolute demand for the repeal of the laws. Their struggle has profoundly impacted the politics of this country. as did their distress in the 2004 general elections.

This is not at all the end of the agrarian crisis. It is the beginning of a new phase of the battle on the larger issues of that crisis. farmer protests have been on for a long time now. and particularly strongly since 2018, when the adivasi farmers of maharashtra electrified the nation with their astonishing 182-km march on foot from nashik to mumbai. Then too, it began with their being dismissed as ‘urban naxals’, as not real farmers, and the rest of the blah. Their march routed their vilifiers.

There are many victories here today. not the least of which is the one the farmers have scored over corporate media. On the farm issue (as on so many others), that media functioned as extra power aaa batteries (amplifying ambani adani +). between December and next april, we will mark 200 years of the launch of two great journals (both by raja rammohan roy) that could be said to have been the beginning of a truly Indian (owned and felt) press. One of which – mirat-ul-akhbar – brilliantly exposed the angrezi administration over the killing of pratap narayan Das from a whipping ordered by a judge in Comilla (now in Chittagong, bangladesh). roy’s powerful editorial resulted in the judge being hauled up and tried by the highest court of the time.

The governor general reacted to this by terrorising the press. promulgating a draconian new press Ordinance, he sought to bring them to heel. refusing to submit to this, roy announced he was shutting down miratul-akhbar rather than submit to what he called degrading and humiliating laws and circumstances. (and went on to take his battle to and through other journals!)

That was journalism of courage. not the journalism of crony courage and capitulation we’ve seen on the farm issue. pursued with a veneer of ‘concern’ for the farmers in unsigned editorials while slamming them on the oped pages as wealthy farmers ‘seeking socialism for the rich.’

The Indian express , the Times of India , almost the whole spectrum of newspapers – would say, essentially, that these were rural yokels who only needed to be spoken to sweetly. The edits invariably ended on the appeal: but do not withdraw these laws, they’re really good. Ditto for much of the rest of the media.

Did any of these publications once tell their readers – on the standoff between farmers and corporates – that mukesh ambani’s personal wealth of 84.5 billion dollars ( forbes 2021) was closing in very fast on the gsDp of the state of punjab (about 85.5 billion)? Did they once tell you that the wealth of ambani and adani (who clocked $50.5 billion) together was greater than the gsDp of either punjab or haryana? well, there are extenuating circumstances. ambani is the biggest owner of media in India. and in those media that he does not own, probably the greatest advertiser. The wealth of these two corporate barons can be and is often written about – generally in a celebratory tone. This is the journalism of corpocrawl. already there is bleating about how this cunning strategy – the backing off – will have significant impact in the punjab assembly polls. That amarinder singh has projected this as a victory he engineered by resigning from the Congress and negotiating with modi. That this will alter the poll picture there. but the hundreds of thousands of people in that state who have participated in that struggle know whose victory it is. The hearts of the people of punjab are with those in the protest camps who have endured one of Delhi’s worst winters in decades, a scorching summer, rains thereafter, and miserable treatment from mr. modi and his captive media. and perhaps the most important thing the protestors have achieved is this: to inspire resistance in other spheres as well, to a government that simply throws its detractors into prison or otherwise hounds and harasses them. That freely arrests citizens, including journalists, under the uapa, and cracks down on independent media for ‘economic offences’. This day isn’t just a win for the farmers. It’s a win for the battle for civil liberties and human rights. a win for Indian democracy.

cOal: tHe end is neigH – Or is it?

By P. K. ranMaChanDaran

amid a worldwide energy crisis, global coal power emissions are surging to pre-pandemic highs, especially in China and India. Rising oil and gas prices and the onset of winter have conspired with the energy needs of rebounding post-COVID economies to increase coal demand after a long decline.

The renaissance of the most carbon intensive fossil fuel was further reinforced when a commitment to a coal "phase-out" in the Glasgow Climate Pact was weakened to a "phase-down."

Going into COP26, the UK president of the conference Alok Sharma said he hoped the summit would "consign coal power to history" in a bid to keep global heating to around 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit). That didn't quite happen. "A green light for more coal production," was how former Australian resources minister, Matt Canavan, responded to the lastminute diluting of the plan to exit coal. "The countries in our region, like India, like China, like Southeast Asia, are growing and developing their industries, and their demand for coal almost has no limit," he said in a television interview.

Experts admit that the weakened language in the Glasgow agreement could muddy the broader momentum towards a coal phase-out by 2030 or 2040 at the latest.

But the current spike in coal demand will be a "short-term phenomenon" linked to a strong postlockdown economic rebound, believes Catharina Hillenbrand von der Neyen, head of research at climate think tank, Carbon Tracker. "I would strongly caution against any view that this is the revival of coal."

reViVaL UnLiKeLy TO LaST

Neyen expects coal to revert to its pre-COVID slide driven by cheaper renewables — including in China, which generated over half of the world's coal-fired power in 2020. "The structural trend is for steeply falling load factors," she said, meaning that with competition from renewables, coal plants aren't running at full capacity, rendering them unprofitable. While new coal power plants are being built, they contribute to an oversupply that only exacerbates the problem. As a result, 27% of the global coal fleet has become unviable, according to Carbon Tracker. "If I could put all my eggs into the coal basket again, you might find they drop onto the floor quite quickly," said Hillenbrand von der Neyen of coal's precipitous long-term outlook.

Gaurav Ganti, a researcher with Berlinbased think tank Climate Analytics, agrees. "This short-lived renaissance is unlikely to persist, given strong headwinds from lowcost renewables," he said.

Even as China and India power their COVID recovery with coal, the fact remains that the number of planned new coal power plants has declined by 76% since 2015 when the Paris Agreement was signed, according to climate change think tank E3G. This is equivalent to China's whole coal capacity.

'nO rOOM FOr COMPLaCenCy'

China provided about 75% of global coal investment in 2020. However, its decision in September to end funding of coal projects beyond its shores, and to peak its own coal use by 2025 as part of its 2060 net-zero emissions plan, is a further signal of coal's inevitable demise, said Ganti. "However, there is no room for complacency," he added — even despite the broader commitment by 47 countries at COP26 to phase out coal via the Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement. "Our work indicates that keeping to 1.5 C, the warming limit of the Paris Agreement, requires coal-fired power to be phased out by 2030 in developed economies, and 2040 globally. Developing countries will require substantial international support for ditching coal."

And despite the Glasgow conference backing away from firm language on ending coal, individual countries are bringing their phase-out deadlines forward.

Germany's new governing coalition — comprising Social Democrats (SDP), Greens and Free Democrats (FDP) — is aiming for a 2030 coal exit, eight years ahead of the country's previous schedule.

Germany is Europe's second largest coal consumer and producer, but even amid a nuclear energy phase-out, it already managed to halve coal power consumption between 2010 and 2020. And while it's true that coal energy demand has also spiked in Germany in 2021, this was due in part to unusually poor weather conditions for wind and solar.

FinanCing a gLOBaL COaL PhaSe-OUT

Along with other EU nations and the US, Germany is also helping to finance a coal phaseout in South Africa, which produces 90% of its energy from coal and is the biggest emitter of the fossil fuel in Africa. Germany's thenenvironment minister described the $8.5 billion (€7.3 billion) initiative agreed to in Glasgow to fund the shift from coal to clean energy as a potential "blueprint" for other regions.

Meanwhile, Portugal this week completely stopped burning coal for energy, two years ahead of a planned phase-out.

Fossil fuel powerhouse Ukraine has also committed to ending coal-power generation by 2035, or 2040 at the latest. At COP26, the country joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA), a coalition of national governments, businesses and organizations committed to an accelerated coal exit.

STranDeD COaL aSSeTS

Researchers are warning that governments who stick with coal could be set to lose billions in stranded assets — as well as hundreds of thousands of jobs — as the world decarbonizes to limit heating to below 2 degrees Celsius. A stranded asset is something that had value or generated income but no longer does.

According to a June 2021 report, one-third of coal mines in Europe, North America and Australia will become stranded assets by 2040 if countries meet their climate targets. Australia, for example, could lose $25 billion (€22 billion) per year in this scenario. Globally, 2.2 million jobs could be at risk unless countries act quickly to transition to a cleaner energy system.

But economics is not the only motivation to get out of coal. "Governments face a choice here," said Gaurav Ganti. "Invest in the fossil fuels of yesterday and risk stranded assets, or invest in renewable energy to get us on a 1.5 C pathway."

Edited by Ruby Russell/ Jennifer Collins

Source- dw.com