Global | The wolf is at the door (again)!

Climate Change United Nations issues a fresh set of climate warnings: the commitments made under the Paris Agreement are not enough to decarbonize the economy. Simply warning about the risks is not enough.

Key points

• Key points:
• Based on countries’ current pledges, global emissions in 2030 will be between +4.2% and -1.5% compared to 2019, a range that would fall to -2.3% and -8.2% if those countries to have made their pledges conditional on receiving (financial, technological) aid were to actually receive such aid (which has yet to happen).
• Yet achieving net zero by 2050 on a stepwise basis requires a reduction in emissions of between 34% and 60% by 2030, which in turn calls for genuinely transformative public policies, generating positive tipping points in energy efficiency and emissions intensity.
• Comprehensive, long-term policies are needed that are attractive for firms and households to align their spending, saving and investment decisions and to achieve profitability and improvements in well-being.
• Degrowth is not a valid strategy: it is ethically unfair to the poor, and counterproductive to incentivizing both the R&D needed to develop “green” technology and processes, and the financial flows needed to bring these innovations into commercial development.
• To win public support for transformative climate policies, it is not good enough to say that the climate wolf is at the door; you have to explain how the hunt will take place and who’s going to pay for it.

Authors

Geographies

Topics

Tags