Today, plummeting renewable energy prices are helping humanity decarbonize: Wind power prices fell 55 percent in 2010, a recent report notes, while solar energy and lithium-ion batteries became 85 percent cheaper — less expensive than scientists predicted. Lower prices have allowed solar panels to spread, reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Scientists try to work out where to place all of them, similar to in rooftop gardens and farmlands, over canals or floating on tanks.
The report “clarifies that the world has made some headway on climate change – there’s excellent news,” says Zeke Hausfather, a scientist at Stripe and the Berkeley Earth nonprofit who wasn’t involved within the synthesis. “At the identical time, there’s such an enormous gap between where we at the moment are – and even where countries have committed to be by 2030 – and what’s needed to realize our most ambitious climate goals.”
The future is uncertain. When scientists model climate change, they imagine different scenarios by which humanity reduces emissions, keeps them constant, or increases them. These models spit out a series of numbers about potential warming. Not so way back, scientists estimated that the rise 4 or 5 degrees could be possible given the emission trajectories. But modeling last 12 months by Hausfather and his colleagues showed that if countries stick with their reduction pledges, we are able to keep warming below 2 degrees. “We may be cautiously optimistic concerning the direction of those trends, and in addition recognize that technology alone won’t save us all,” says Hausfather. “Without stronger rules to support these adoptions, we won’t achieve our goals.”
A recent IPCC report falls in the course of these ranges, warning that unless policymakers take more ambitious reduction measures, we might be heading towards a temperature increase of around 3 degrees by 2100. If we’re already seeing 1.1 degrees of warming, that will be an unfathomable escalation.
Hausfather sees hope that we are able to prevent this future. Last 12 months, the US passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates tons of of billions of dollars to squeezing the green economy and inspiring people to make their homes climate-proof. The invasion of Ukraine has forced Europe to wean itself from Russian gas and adopt cleaner technologies similar to heat pumps. “What China is doing with electric vehicles is large,” says Hausfather, referring to the country’s rapid adoption of electrical vehicles. And as the worth of renewable energy falls, he continues, “the answer to that is prone to be quite a bit cheaper than we thought ten years ago.”
However, decarbonising the food system might be harder. A study published earlier this month estimated that the industry alone could contribute one degree Celsius warming by 2100. But it also pointed to powerful levers that might be used to regulate emissions: three-quarters of that warming would come from methane-heavy industries similar to dairy and livestock production (cows often burp) and rice farming (gas-emitting bacteria grow in flooded rice fields). Methane is 80 times more powerful than CO2, but disappears from the atmosphere in 10 years, not centuries. Changes similar to reducing demand for beef or developing feed additives to stop belching could help limit warming quickly.
The report notes that decarbonization comes with other advantages, often known as multisolve. For example, adding green space to a city absorbs carbon dioxide, cools the air, mitigates flooding, improves mental health, and might allow residents to grow more of their very own food, increasing food security while reducing transport emissions. Switching from gasoline cars to electric vehicles reduces each carbon emissions and air pollution. “So rapidly, this transition to net zero is an enormous, big win for public health around the globe,” says Elizabeth Sawin, founder and director of the Multisolve Institute, which focuses on climate solutions.
The final a part of this IPCC series tackles the purpose where humanity finds itself at a crossroads: day-to-day business or accelerating the green revolution. “If we act now,” IPCC chairman Hoesung Lee said in a press release, “we are able to still ensure a sustainable, livable future for all.”
