At the conclusion of the recent climate talks in Lima, Peru, known as COP20, all countries agreed to make cuts to their fossil fuel emissions and submit their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to the UN in the spring of 2015. Additionally, the Lima deal will also compare emission reductions among countries and see how the collective contributions stack up against the global commitment to limit global warming to less than 2°C.
A recent report issued by the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project, Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (a pdf), shows how the U.S. can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, using existing or near-commercial technologies, in line with the 2°C limit on warming.
Do you have questions on how the U.S. can reduce its emissions, the associated costs, policy implications, technological and energy transformations, etc.?
@UNSDSN is hosting a live Twitter Q&A on Friday, Dec. 19, from 1-2 p.m. EST with Jim Williams, chief scientist at Energy and Environmental Economics Inc. and lead author on the U.S. Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project report. You can send in your questions before and during the live chat on Twitter or Facebook by using #USDDPP. Click here to find out what time the chat will be in your part of the world.
The U.S. decarbonization report was authored by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Energy and Environmental Economics Inc., a San Francisco-based consulting firm. The report is one of 15 country studies that are part of the global decarbonization project, a joint initiative of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations.
Williams is chief scientist at Energy and Environmental Economics Inc. With more than 20 years of experience in the energy industry, he has worked in many areas of electric power system technology, economics and regulation. His practice areas include energy and climate policy; renewables and emerging technology; and energy efficiency and demand response. He also leads the company’s China energy practice. Williams was until recently an associate professor of international environmental policy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and he has taught at U.C. Berkeley and Stanford.
Resources:
COP20 full draft text (pdf)
