Wave of net zero emission targets opens window to meeting the Paris Agreement

Abstract

The wave of national net zero CO2 and greenhouse gas emission targets could, if fully implemented, reduce best estimates of projected global average temperature increase to 2.0-2.4°C by 2100 and could bring achievement of the Paris Agreement within reach. 131 countries are discussing, have announced, or have adopted net zero targets, which together cover 72% of global emissions. Together, these net zero targets could significantly lower projected global warming compared to currently implemented policies (2.9 to 3.2°C) or to the pledges submitted to the Paris Agreement (2.4 to 2.9°C). MainAnalyses of current promises and actions by countries to limit climate change have concluded that they are by far insufficient to meet the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increase to well below 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C (refs. [1][2][3][4][5] ). Specific policies employed to reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement may differ from country to country. However, a chief requirement of collective action is codified in Article 4.1 of the Paris Agreement (Article 4.1, UNFCCC, 2015): emissions need to peak as soon as possible and anthropogenic emissions must be balanced by removals in the second half of the century. In other words, global emissions must reach a net zero level. The idea to include a global net zero target in the Paris Agreement was put forward in the run up to its adoption in 2015. 7,8 Pathways to meet this goal have been evaluated in the literature subsequently 9 .

Global temperature goals should determine the time horizons for greenhouse gas emission metrics

“…Although NDCs and long-term national pledges are currently insufficient to keep warming below 2 • C, let alone 1.5 • C [50][51][52], the time horizons used for emission metrics should nevertheless be consistent with that central goal of the Paris Agreement. We therefore support the use of the 20 year time horizon over the 100 year version, when binary choices between these two must be made, due to the better alignment of the former with the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement.…”

Research Development on Aqueous Ammonium‐Ion Batteries

“…utilization technologies. [ 1–16 ] These green energy sources especially like solar, wind, and tidal energy are all intermittent energy with extremely unstable periods, which in turn results in expensive costs and inconvenient use of them. [ 17–20 ] For this reason, developing a cost‐effective and sustainable energy storage technology that can integrate them into a smart power‐grid to realize convenient and efficient utilization is the key to the large‐scale collections and low‐cost storage and conversion of these green power sources.…”

Addressing climate change through climate action

“…Numerous publications in various scientific disciplines have confirmed climate change was set in motion by anthropogenic activities. Even if forecasted global temperature rises stabilize at 1.5 °C or 2 °C, as the Paris Agreement aims to achieve (Höhne et al, 2021;Hulme, 2016;Roelfsema et al, 2020;Tobin et al, 2018), there will still be serious consequences for the wellbeing of ecosystems and society.…”