Stabilisation wedges
Measuring progress towards transforming the global energy and land use systems
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15548675 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nathan Johnson (0000-0002-0094-5472, Imperial College London, corresponding author), Robert Gross (0000-0003-3810-6663, Imperial College London), Iain Staffell (0000-0003-1012-7075, Imperial College London) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 064011-064011 |
| Publication date | 2021-03-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/abec06 |
| OpenAlex | W3135235255 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 42 |
Fifteen years ago, Pacala and Socolow argued that global carbon emissions could be stabilised by mid-century using a portfolio of existing mitigation strategies. We assess historic progress for each of their proposed mitigation strategies and convert this into the unit of ‘wedges’. We show that the world is on track to achieve 1.5 ± 0.9 wedges relative to seven required to stabilise emissions, or 14 required to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century. Substantial progress has been made in some domains that are not widely recognised (improving vehicle efficiency and declining vehicle use); yet this is tempered by negligible or even negative progress in many others (particularly tropical tree cover loss in Asia and Africa). By representing global decarbonisation efforts using the conceptually simple unit of wedges, this study helps a broader audience to understand progress to date and engage with the need for much greater effort over the coming decades
Business · Economics · Natural resource economics · Portfolio · Unit (ring theory · Climate Change Policy and Economics · Computer Science · Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies · Environmental Impact and Sustainability · Environmental Science · Mathematics
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |