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zero net emmission

Net zero emissions refers to balancing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing them and using methods to remove remaining emissions, a goal emphasized by the Paris Agreement and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Countries like Sweden and the UK have set targets for achieving net zero by 2050, while China aims for 2060. Concerns exist regarding the effectiveness of net zero commitments, with accusations of 'greenwashing' as some entities announce targets without adequate action to meet them.

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6 views

zero net emmission

Net zero emissions refers to balancing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing them and using methods to remove remaining emissions, a goal emphasized by the Paris Agreement and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Countries like Sweden and the UK have set targets for achieving net zero by 2050, while China aims for 2060. Concerns exist regarding the effectiveness of net zero commitments, with accusations of 'greenwashing' as some entities announce targets without adequate action to meet them.

Uploaded by

lanlanlannguyen2000
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What does 'net zero emissions' mean?

An ambitious target to reduce emissions, but can it slow global warming?

The concept of net zero greenhouse gas emissions was first popularised
by the Paris Agreement, a landmark deal that was agreed at the United
Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) to limit the impact of
greenhouse gas emissions. At the watershed meeting, nearly 200
countries agreed “to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions
by sources by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this
century.” In other words, hit net zero emissions by around mid-century.

In 2018 the timeline and need for the goal was spelt out more clearly, by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report on stopping
1.5°C of warming. The UN climate science panel said that global carbon
dioxide emissions must fall by about 45 per cent by 2030, and to net zero
by 2050, for the world to have a chance of avoiding the devastating
consequences of breaching the 1.5°C threshold.

That report helped spur countries including Sweden to set a goal of net
zero emissions by 2050, followed by the UK in 2019, the first major
economy to do so. In 2020, China, the world’s biggest emitter, pledged it
would reach “carbon neutrality” by 2060. Businesses, and sub-national
actors such as states and regions, have also set similar targets.

Why net rather than just zero? Even if we decarbonise our electricity grids
entirely, make green hydrogen production affordable and dramatically
scale up carbon capture and storage, there will still be a rump of
emissions left by 2050. Most of those will come from hard- or impossible-
to-abate sectors including farming, aviation, some heavy industry and
waste.

That is where greenhouse gas removals come in. Tree-planting, restoring


peatlands, and technologies such as direct air capture of CO2 can tip the
carbon accounting scales to cancel out the remaining rump, leaving a
country or business at net zero.

There are a few technical but important questions around the best ways
to achieve net zero. One is over whether “carbon credits” from other
countries should be allowed to count towards a country’s progress. The UK
government’s advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), argues
they should not, because of the expense but also because all countries
will eventually need to reach net zero, so that option will vanish.

Another is over whether net zero should cover just carbon emissions or all
greenhouse gas emissions, including others such as methane, which
comes principally from farming and oil and gas production. The CCC says
it is better to cover all greenhouse gas emissions.

Some figures, such as former Bank of England governor Mark Carney,


have stirred controversy by appearing to suggest alternative definitions of
net zero. He claimed the asset manager where he works, Brookfield Asset
Management Inc, was net zero because its investments in renewable
energy “avoid emissions”, despite the firm holding major investments in
coal, oil and gas. Carney later rowed back on the claim.

There is concern in some quarters that companies and countries are


“greenwashing” by announcing net zero targets but not putting sufficient
action in place to meet them. The UK, for example, made its target law in
June 2019 but as of March 2020 is still off-track to meet even its near-term
targets for the mid-2020s, let alone long-term net zero by 2050.

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