Key indicators to track current progress and future ambition of the Paris Agreement

Peters, Glen P., Andrew, Robbie M., Canadell, Josep G., Fuss, Sabine, Jackson, Robert B., Korsbakken, Jan Ivar, Le Quéré, Corinne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2319-0452 and Nakicenovic, Nebojsa (2017) Key indicators to track current progress and future ambition of the Paris Agreement. Nature Climate Change, 7 (2). pp. 118-122. ISSN 1758-678X

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Abstract

Current emission pledges to the Paris Agreement appear insufficient to hold the global average temperature increase to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. Yet, details are missing on how to track progress towards the â € Paris goal', inform the five-yearly â € global stocktake', and increase the ambition of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). We develop a nested structure of key indicators to track progress through time. Global emissions track aggregated progress, country-level decompositions track emerging trends that link directly to NDCs, and technology diffusion indicates future reductions. We find the recent slowdown in global emissions growth is due to reduced growth in coal use since 2011, primarily in China and secondarily in the United States. The slowdown is projected to continue in 2016, with global CO 2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry similar to the 2015 level of 36 GtCO 2. Explosive and policy-driven growth in wind and solar has contributed to the global emissions slowdown, but has been less important than economic factors and energy efficiency. We show that many key indicators are currently broadly consistent with emission scenarios that keep temperatures below 2 °C, but the continued lack of large-scale carbon capture and storage threatens 2030 targets and the longer-term Paris ambition of net-zero emissions.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: sdg 7 - affordable and clean energy ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/affordable_and_clean_energy
Faculty \ School: University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups: University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
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Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 27 Apr 2017 05:50
Last Modified: 20 Oct 2023 01:05
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/63310
DOI: 10.1038/nclimate3202

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