January 8, 2021 by Zeke Hausfather 1 Comment

Existing national commitments imply that today’s emissions will simply plateau, remaining only slightly below 2019 levels by 2030. However, according to the latest UN Environment Programme (UNEP) emissions gap report, the new commitments from China, the EU, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Joe Biden’s US and others are “broadly consistent” with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C goal for 2050. But commitments aren’t policy, warns UNEP, and only real change … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Energy Outlooks, Policies Tagged With: CCS, China, emissions, EU, G20, Japan, NDC, Paris2050, SKorea, transport, UK, UNEP, US

June 21, 2019 by Zeke Hausfather

Energy use grew at 2.9% in 2018, the largest rise since 2010. It’s what happens when economies grow. But gas, oil and coal's contribution to that growth saw global CO2 emissions rise by 2% in 2018, the largest year-on-year increase in seven years. Wind and solar growth, driven by China though slowing in the US, EU, and India, achieved its second fastest rate on record - but still lagged behind gas additions. These are not the trends we need to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy Tagged With: CO2, coal, electricity, emissions, gas, hydro, Nuclear, oil, solar, wind

April 17, 2019 by Zeke Hausfather

No wonder young people have taken the reins of the climate demonstrations away from the adults. Zeke Hausfather at Carbon Brief shows that the global budget for avoiding warming of 1.5C or 2C has already been mostly used up. To put that in numbers, if children emit like their parents they’ll exhaust their carbon budget in just 9 years. It’s why emissions must peak in the next few years and then rapidly decline to hit the Paris targets. That’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy Tagged With: China, emissions, Europe, ghg, India, Paris2050, US