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OKIsItJustMe

(19,933 posts)
Mon Dec 15, 2014, 03:40 PM Dec 2014

Climate policy pledges are an important step forward but fall short of 2°C

http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/about/news/20141215-LIMITS.html
[font face=Serif]15 December 2014

[font size=5]Climate policy pledges are an important step forward but fall short of 2°C[/font]

[font size=4]Pledges to reduce emissions in China, Europe and the US provide an important step forward for climate change action, but a more comprehensive effort is needed to stabilize the climate below critical thresholds. Climate finance can cover investment gaps and alleviate distributional tensions, a new study shows.[/font]

[font size=3]Researchers have released one of the most comprehensive assessments of the timing and amount of greenhouse gas emissions that each of the world’s major economies could produce under different scenarios, i.e. without new climate policies, for the currently discussed pledges, and under a scenario that limits future temperature rise to 2°C. The study looks into several key negotiation issues on the road from the climate summit in Lima to the one in Paris 2015.

“The pledges made so far lead to earlier emission peaking in many countries, with 1-1.5 °C less total warming than without these policies, but not sufficient to meet the 2°C target. Under the proposed commitments, cumulative CO[font size="1"]2[/font] emissions in China would be reduced by half. Yet, together with those of the other Asian economies they would exceed the total emission budget compatible with 2°C--about 1000 Gt CO[font size="1"]2[/font],” says Massimo Tavoni (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei and Politecnico di Milano) who coordinated the project in press in the journal Nature Climate Change.


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“Reducing emissions while limiting costs requires a significant contribution from developing countries. This could create unfair distribution of costs. Compensatory measures could address these” Tavoni adds. The study finds that financial support in the order of 100-150 billion USD /year by 2030 could achieve efficiency and cover the total investments in low carbon technologies needed in developing countries for the 2°C target. Fiscal revenues from instruments such as carbon taxes could also cover the clean energy investment gaps.

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