Delivering net zero

Abstract

What comes next? The 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact rightly expressed “alarm and utmost concern” at the impacts of climate change that are already being felt around the world, following repeated instances of death and destruction brought by extreme heat, floods and wildfires.11 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2021) Glasgow Climate Pact, UNFCCC. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2021_L16_adv.pdf It explicitly recognised that further impacts will be much lower at a 1.5C temperature increase than at 2C, and it stated that this means almost halving global carbon dioxide emissions this decade and reaching net zero around mid-century. More needs to be done to close the considerable gap between the ambition to limit climate change and the promised emission reductions. Pledges made by countries in Glasgow on issues such as deforestation, electric vehicles and methane need to be translated into real policy and action, accountability mechanisms need to be strengthened, and international climate finance needs to be bolstered. Nevertheless, a clear commitment to a global net-zero future has been made by global governments, mirrored throughout much of the private sector, and the principal challenge now is one of delivery on an accelerated timeframe. “This is both unimaginably daunting and eminently doable” “such investment must be fairly distributed and aligned to a broader strategy to deliver a just transition” “A critical part of the institutional infrastructure is ensuring horizontal and vertical connectivity in decision-making across local and national government” “emissions reduction commitments … remain woefully insufficient to limit a temperature rise to 1.5C” With the alarm bell still ringing from Glasgow, the single most important thing is that pledges are translated into accelerated whole-economy action so that this vision and the ambition of net zero rapidly become a global reality. Prof Emily Shuckburgh is Director of Cambridge Zero, the University of Cambridge's major climate change initiative. She is also Professor of Environmental Data Science at the Department of Computer Science and Technology and leads the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training on the Application of AI to the study of Environmental Risks (AI4ER).