A new paper in Science identifies 36 strategies to solve climate change.
A new paper in Science presents 36 strategies to solve climate change. If we implement 20 of them and keep up current climate policies, we can limit warming to 1.5°C. BOOM!
This study shows how much climate pollution each solution avoids, enabling apples-to-apples comparisons using “climate wedges”. One wedge reduces global emissions 4% by 2050.
Current policies represent 17 wedges; fully implemented, they get us about halfway to 1.5°C. (I find it heartening to know our pretty half-assed global efforts are working!)
The goal is to identify solutions that are both effective (the wedges add up to the emissions reductions needed) and socially supported (accounting for co-benefits, risks, and political preferences, not just costs).
The 36 climate solution wedges include:
- 12 from nature (e.g., protecting tropical forests, eating less meat);
- 8 from electricity (solar, wind);
- 7 from transport (replacing car trips with walking or biking, flying less);
- 6 from industry (decarbonizing cement and steel);
- 3 from buildings (heat pumps, clean cookstoves).
Some wedges can be repeated: 6.6% of global electricity is one wedge, so 13.2% of new solar capacity is two. Nature, followed by industry and electricity, have the greatest potential emissions reductions.