Assessing the rapidly-emerging landscape of net zero targets

Hale, Thomas; Smith, Stephen M.; Black, Richard; Cullen, Kate; Fay, Byron; Lang, John Temple; Mahmood, Saba

doi:10.1080/14693062.2021.2013155

Cited by 101 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Merton Council, for example, emphasised that it directly controls less than 2.5% emissions within its borders in its declaration of a climate emergency. Similarly, Hale et al (2021) nd that less than 10% of net zero climate targets covered by their global analysis met a minimum standard of robustness, in terms of the target's coverage of activities, the publishing of a plan and progress reports, transparent governance and appropriate use of offsets.…”

Section: Declaring Targets Versus Delivering Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Missing the target: Are local climate targets aligned with national net zero ambitions?

Sudmant

Howarth

Lane

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate emergency declarations made by local governments often include targets to reach net zero emissions, but it is unclear how these targets contribute to national commitments to reduce emissions or whether these targets are achievable. At the national level, the UK has set the ambitious target to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035, however, the UK is currently not on track to reach its 4th and 5th Carbon budgets, let alone the 6th Carbon budget. Using a bottom-up emission reduction pathway based on local authority (LA) emissions reduction targets we find that the UK would achieve its 6th Carbon Budget and its 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution if local emissions targets are achieved. More importantly, the targets set by local authorities could be missed by 39% in 2030 and 18% in 2037 and the UK as a whole would still be able to meet its climate targets. We discuss these results in the context of the current division of responsibilities between the national and local governments, the potential for, and consequences of, a gap emerging between the emissions of different local authorities, the capacity of local governments to meet net zero targets and the absence of regional government in the UK. We conclude that polycentric modes of climate governance, as are emerging from Climate Commissions developed in Leeds, Belfast, Edinburgh and 16 other local authorities across the UK, may play a key role helping to fill capacity gaps at the local and regional levels.

show abstract

Section: Declaring Targets Versus Delivering Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Missing the target: Are local climate targets aligned with national net zero ambitions?

Sudmant

Howarth

Lane

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Net zero targets mean that some amount of remaining emissions are balanced by removing carbon from the atmosphere. However, the majority of net zero commitments are unclear on how carbon offsets will be used or how removals will be carried out (Hale et al 2022). Companies are experimenting as they figure out to meet their public commitments to net-zero.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil carbon sequestration as a climate strategy: what do farmers think?

Buck

Palumbo-Compton

2022

Biogeochemistry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Countries and companies with net-zero emissions targets are considering carbon removal strategies to compensate for remaining greenhouse gas emissions. Soil carbon sequestration is one such carbon removal strategy, and policy and corporate interest is growing in figuring out how to motivate farmers to sequester more carbon. But how do farmers in various cultural and geographic contexts view soil carbon sequestration as a climate mitigation or carbon removal strategy? This article systematically reviews the empirical social science literature on farmer adoption of soil carbon sequestration practices and participation in carbon markets or programs. The article finds thirty-seven studies over the past decade that involve empirical research with soil carbon sequestering practices in a climate context, with just over a quarter of those focusing on the Global South. A central finding is co-benefits are a strong motivator for adoption, especially given minimal carbon policies and low carbon prices. Other themes in the literature include educational and cultural barriers to adoption, the difference between developing and developed world contexts, and policy preferences among farmers for soil carbon sequestration incentives. However, we argue that given the rising profile of technical potentials and carbon credits, this peer-reviewed literature on the social aspects of scaling soil carbon sequestration is quite limited. We discuss why the social science literature is so small, and what this research gap means for efforts to achieve higher levels of soil carbon sequestration. We conclude with a ten-point social science research agenda for social science on soil carbon—and some cautions about centering carbon too strongly in research and policy.

show abstract

“…Several countries worldwide, including the European Union, have pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050 (Hale et al, 2022; Council of the European Union, 2020) to limit global warming below 1.5C (IPCC et al, 2018(IPCC et al, , 2021. This requires finding new routes for energy provision, which rely on increasing shares of intermittent renewable energy (RE) generation and might pose challenges to today's electricity system (IEA, 2021a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%