ΙΜF:What climate negotiators need to know – a playbook of pathways to 1.5-2 degrees

 

Dear maria, To keep warming to 1.5-2 degrees, we need to cut global emissions by 30-55 percent below business-as-usual levels by 2030. It’s up to negotiators to agree how cuts should be balanced across countries. Under revised plans, advanced economies have committed to reduce emissions rapidly—with collective pledges of 43 percent below projected 2030 levels (up from 21 percent in 2015 pledges). Higher-income emerging market economies have together pledged a 12 percent cut (up from 3 percent in 2015), and lower-income emerging market economies, 6 percent (up from 4 percent). But everyone needs to do more. Now, the IMF has identified multiple pathways to keep warming contained. These are feasible, affordable and—arguably—fair, since they place a bigger burden of cuts on richer countries. And the costs are manageable. To stay within range of a 2 degrees target would cost 0.2 to 1.2 percent of GDP—again—with the biggest burden of costs on richer countries. And of course these costs pale in significance compared to the huge costs and risks from not acting and allowing temperatures to rise out of control. Want to know more? Download the new IMF Staff Climate Note: “Not Yet on Track to Net Zero: The Urgent Need for Greater Ambition and Policy Action to Achieve Paris Temperature Goals” Further reading: IMF Staff Climate Note series Finance & Development magazine: the Climate Issue          Recent speeches