Key Elements for Success on Climate Change Mitigation at COP21 in Paris
In December 2015, the Government of France will host the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris. The stakes could not be higher. Twenty-three years after the signing of the Framework Convention, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are still rising fast, dangerously disrupting the climate system, and posing a grave threat to sustainable development in all countries.
Avoiding highly dangerous climate change will require sustained efforts and profound changes in the world’s energy systems, land-use patterns, and socio-economic development trajectories. The global agreement reached at COP21 in Paris must be a decisive turning point for the world’s efforts to fight climate change. COP21 will be the last chance to adopt a global agreement that makes it possible to secure a safe climate.
This working paper highlights eight key criteria for ensuring that an agreement at the COP21 in Paris avoids highly dangerous climate change. We focus here on mitigation and climate finance required in order to respect the 2°C upper limit. We do underscore, however, that a Paris agreement will need to cover a broader agenda, including adaptation to climate change, technology transfer, accountability, transparency, differentiation, and the appropriate legal form of an agreement.
Sustainable Development and Climate Change: Practical Solutions in the Energy-Water Nexus
Slides presented by Jeffrey Sachs to the UN General Assembly, 16 May 2013.
Financing for Development and Climate Change Post-2015
Brief for the High Level Panel on financing adaptation and mitigation to climate change, 16 March 2013.
Climate Action Publication (10th edition)
Launched at COP13 Bali and now in its 10th edition, the Climate Action publication is officially supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The annual reference report features world-class thought leadership from some of the most influential political, environmental and business commentators.
Pathways to Deep Decarbonization: 2015 Synthesis Report
In September 2015, the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project published the Executive Summary of the Pathways to Deep Decarbonization: 2015 Synthesis Report. The full 2015 Synthesis Report was launched in Paris on December 3, 2015, at a technical workshop with the Mitigation Action Plans and Scenarios (MAPS) program.
The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP) is a collaborative initiative to understand and show how individual countries can transition to a low-carbon economy and how the world can meet the internationally agreed target of limiting the increase in global mean surface temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius (°C). Achieving the 2°C limit will require that global net emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) approach zero by the second half of the century. In turn, this will require a profound transformation of energy systems by mid-century through steep declines in carbon intensity in all sectors of the economy, a transition we call “deep decarbonization.”
Pathways to Deep Decarbonization: 2014 Report
On September 19, 2014 the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project published its 2014 report, which was presented at the United Nations Climate Summit on September 23, 2014.
The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP) is a collaborative initiative to understand and show how individual countries can transition to a low-carbon economy and how the world can meet the internationally agreed target of limiting the increase in global mean surface temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius (°C). Achieving the 2°C limit will require that global net emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) approach zero by the second half of the century. In turn, this will require a profound transformation of energy systems by mid-century through steep declines in carbon intensity in all sectors of the economy, a transition we call “deep decarbonization.”
