The latest United Nations IPCC Reports describe how limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels can avert the worst impacts of climate change.
The latest United Nations IPCC Reports describe how limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels can avert the worst impacts of climate change. That will require global emissions to drop by roughly half over the next decade and reach net-zero emissions near midcentury. With those goals in mind, the United States’ current Paris Agreement pledge is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by about 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. With less than eight years left to meet that target, what steps must be taken to get the job done?
A new study in the journal Science provides a clear and concise roadmap on how to achieve the 2030 U.S. climate goal that its coauthors say is technologically and economically feasible to implement, and delivers multiple long-term benefits. Moreover, its key findings are based on the consensus of six leading energy/economic models.
“Our study provides the first detailed roadmap for how the U.S. can reach its 50-percent greenhouse gas emissions-reduction target by 2030,” says lead author John Bistline, program manager in the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group at the Electric Power Research Institute. “This will require tripling the pace of historic carbon reductions, an ambitious but achievable target if stakeholders collaborate across all sectors. By comparing results across six independent models, we provide greater confidence about the policies and technology deployment needed to achieve near-term climate goals, laying the groundwork for an affordable, reliable and equitable net-zero future.”
Read more at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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