Cutting CO2 emissions from the US energy sector: meeting a 50% target by 2030

Abstract

US energy-related CO2 emissions are of a globally significant scale and therefore the mitigation of these emissions may play an extremely important role in addressing anthropogenic climate change in the 21st century. In order to address this internationally relevant topic, this study set out to apply the concept of stabilization wedges to the US energy sector. The goal was to assess the cumulative emission abatement potential of a range of currently available strategies. We find that population, surface temperature, the type of industry present and the carbon intensity of the fuel mix are dominant drivers of energy-related emissions in the USA. In addition, we find that, if the right legislative and market mechanisms were in place, a cumulative CO2 reduction of 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 would be possible in the US energy sector. We demonstrate that this very large reduction in emissions can be achieved using 12 technologically deployable, economically feasible and politically acceptable mitigation strategies