Dr. Leonidas Paroussos spoke at the launch event of the “Growth-positive zero-emission pathways to 2050” report, which was held online on April 9. The report, commissioned by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and prepared by an international research team including E3-Modelling, and led by UCL, finds that meeting the 1.5-degree climate target of the Paris Agreement can go hand in hand with a growing economy, albeit under strict conditions.

The report addresses critical questions such as what the economic implications of the 1.5 degrees target are and what countries need to do in practice to meet the target.

In essence, getting to net-zero emissions by 2050 requires unprecedented action. Until 2030 governments need to have put in place a mix of strong and consistent policies on energy efficiency, renewables and coal phase-out and ensure their credible implementation. Moreover, they need to invest heavily in carbon sequestration technologies and promote the switch of heating, transport, and industry to clean electricity as much as possible.

The two models used in the report performed a consistent calculation of a decarbonized energy and economic system and provided projections up until 2050 and 2100.

• TIAM UCL calculated the changes required for the energy system to achieve GHG emissions consistent with a 1.5°C temperature increase in 2100; and
• GEM-E3 calculated how the changes in energy system impact economic growth

Because of the limited scope of the work, the report did not analyse whether economic growth can be decoupled from the overconsumption of natural resources or what the economic costs from increasing temperatures and other climate damages are.

The full report and a summary of it can be downloaded here

To find out more, please see here