Democracy and climate-change action

Abstract

Climate Change Climate models aiming to explore how global warming can be limited to the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5° or 2°C usually invoke sweeping technical and societal transformations. These include the extensive use of carbon dioxide removal technologies. In a Perspective, Lawrence and Schafer argue that this reliance on technologies may be difficult or impossible to implement at the required scale, making the Paris temperature goals increasingly less plausible. A way forward is the innovative concept of nationally determined contributions to climate risk reduction, introduced in the Paris Agreement. This fosters greater democratic engagement, accountability, and meaningful change toward mitigating and adapting to climate change. Science , this issue p. [829][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaw4602