"Our study for the first time presents equitable emissions allocations of global cost-optimal emissions pathways consistent with the Paris Agreement goals, in particular the 1.5°C goal", lead author Yann Robiou du Pont of the Australian-German Climate & Energy College of the University of Melbourne says. "Following equity categories outlined by the IPCC, we show that the G8 and China together could close the emissions mitigation gap to keep warming to below 2°C. However, equitably limiting warming to 1.5°C would require individual countries to achieve mitigation milestones like peaking emissions or reaching net-zero emissions much earlier".
"Equity refers to the fairness and comparability of climate pledges. Fairness can be interpreted in many ways; our paper quantifies these different interpretations so that the quantitative implications can be compared”, co-author Louise Jeffery of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research adds. “Equity concepts include those that assign lower future emissions allowances to countries with high past emissions and wealthier countries, those that aim for equal emissions per person, and those that preserve the right to development and accommodate national circumstances".
How fair are countries' climate pledges?
The results of the study are also available on a new website called http://paris-equity-check.org/, the first website to offer a multi-dimensional and completely peer-reviewed overview on climate pledges with regard to equity principles, consistent with the Paris Agreement.
Article: Yann Robiou du Pont, M.Louise Jeffery, Johannes Gütschow, Joeri Rogelj, Peter Christoff, Malte Meinshausen: Equitable mitigation to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Nature Climate Change. [DOI: 10.1038/nclimate3186]
Weblink to the article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3186
How fair are the countries' climate pledges? Weblink to the Paris Equity Check Website: http://paris-equity-check.org/
