Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ELEVATE (ENABLING AND LEVERAGING CLIMATE ACTION TOWARDS NET-ZERO EMISSIONS)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29
Impacts of human-induced climate change can already be observed and current trends will lead to further warming with possibly catastrophic implications for human development. Climate action is therefore urgently needed. As part of the Paris Agreement, countries have agreed to limit global mean temperature increase to well-below 2 °C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 °C. To achieve this, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions need to be reduced rapidly. In fact, most emission scenarios consistent with the Paris objectives reach net-zero emissions around mid-century. The Paris Agreement specifies that these ambitious mitigation efforts need to be implemented and communicated via Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). In the past few years, many countries have formulated such NDCs and expressed long-term policy goals regarding net-zero emissions targets. However, the combined effect of all national NDCs, even if fully implemented, is still clearly insufficient to achieve the Paris objectives. Much deeper emission reductions are needed both in developed and developing economies. ELEVATE’s main aim is to develop transformative new scientific insights to support the preparations of NDCs and national climate policies focused on achieving net-zero emissions, in line with the Paris Agreement.
The work is done in several work packages. As part of WP2 (Evaluation of NDCs and current policies and implications for future post-2030 policies), we have further developed the Climate Policy Database (CPDB) as an open, collaborative tool to advance data collection of the implementation status of national climate policies, as well as the Climate Policy Modelling Protocol (CPMP). The latest update has been standardized to facilitate implementation and machine readability of policies and related targets. Updating the CPDB and the CPMP is the first step in the development of new climate policy scenarios and analysis. As part of WP3 (Technological and behavioural aspects of sectoral transformation), ELEVATE has started to identify critical enabling factors and barriers to transformation. Moreover, the study also looked into specific case studies to identify country clusters that clearly differ in terms of the political economy. In WP4 (International governance and policy), work is in progress on scenarios that look into trade-barriers. In WP5 (Ensuring a just and sustainable transformation), attention is paid to sustainability and equity. We have also investigated the public perception of solar geoengineering (more specifically stratospheric aerosol injection). Finally, as part of WP6 (Integration and net-zero scenarios), we have started to look into the net-zero scenarios, starting with an analysis of existing scenarios in the IPCC database and exploring how different formulations of net-zero can influence timing and implementation of the climate goals. We have also developed a tool, called the Carbon Budget Explorer) to explore future net-zero targets in relation to various carbon budgets. Finally, WP6 contributed to the coordination of the SSP update for population and economic drivers scenarios.
ELEVATE has significantly advanced the ability of the IAM community to elevate current policies and pledges of large emitting countries. The project also aims to make better connections between political economy analysis and IAMs scenarios. The project has been looking into equity and climate justice, and developed two new tools (the Carbon Budget Explorer and the Carbon Debt Tool) to support scenario analysis while taking into account these considerations.
The Carbon Budget Explorer and the Carbon Debt Tool can be accessed at:
https://carbonbudgetexplorer.eu/(opens in new window)
https://data.ece.iiasa.ac.at/carbondebt(opens in new window)
The Carbon Budget Explorer and the Carbon Debt Tool can be accessed at:
https://carbonbudgetexplorer.eu/(opens in new window)
https://data.ece.iiasa.ac.at/carbondebt(opens in new window)