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• https://twitter.com/AlexSteffen/status/1275104339548233734

• https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/even-climate-progressive-nations-fall-far-short-of-paris-agreement-targets/

Alex Steffen / University of Manchester Report

Even ‘climate progressive’ nations fall far short of Paris Agreement targets

New research focusing on the UK and Sweden, demonstrates just how far even ‘climate progressive’ nations are from meeting our international commitments to avoid dangerous climate change.

The researchers concluded that despite the UK and Sweden claiming to have world leading climate legislation, their planned reductions in emissions will still lead to total emissions two to three times greater than is their fair share of a Paris-compliant global carbon budget.

The annual rate that emissions are expected to be cut is less than half of that required, with the scientists suggesting a minimum for the UK of 10% each year, starting in 2020. Similarly, the date of achieving a fully zero-carbon energy system should be around 2035, rather than the UK’s current ‘net-zero’ by 2050 legislation.

The study led by Professor Kevin Anderson from The University of Manchester, is published in the journal Climate Policy. The team of climate scientists asked how close these countries are to meeting the UN’s climate commitments if the ‘safe’ quantity of emissions, the global carbon budget, is shared fairly between ‘developing’ and ‘developed’ countries.

Professor Kevin Anderson, draws a damning conclusion from the research:

"Academics have done an excellent job in understanding and communicating climate science, but the same cannot be said in relation to reducing emissions. Here we have collectively denied the necessary scale of mitigation, running scared of calling for fundamental changes to both our energy system and the lifestyles of high-energy users."

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