UN Says Global Carbon Neutrality Should be Reached by Second Half of Century, Demonstrates Pathways

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2812&ArticleID=11082&l=en

[font face=Serif][font size=5]UN Says Global Carbon Neutrality Should be Reached by Second Half of Century, Demonstrates Pathways to Stay Under 2°C Limit [/font]
wo, nov 19, 2014

[font size=4]Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions Including Non-CO2 Must Shrink To Net Zero by 2100 Emissions Gap May Widen by 2030 but Low Carbon Path Offers Opportunities for the Future[/font]
[font size=3] [UN Says Global Carbon Neutrality Should be Reached by Second Half of Century, Demonstrates Pathways to Stay Under 2°C Limit ]

Washington D.C., 19 November 2014 - In order to limit global temperature rise to 2°C and head off the worst impacts of climate change, global carbon neutrality should be attained by mid-to-late century. This would also keep in check the maximum amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that can be emitted into the atmosphere while staying within safe temperature limits beyond 2020, says a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Exceeding an estimated budget of just 1,000 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (Gt CO[font size=1]₂[/font]) would increase the risk of severe, pervasive, and in some cases irreversible climate change impacts.

Released days ahead of the UN Conference on Climate Change in Lima, Peru, UNEP's Emissions Gap Report 2014 is the fifth in a series that examines whether the pledges made by countries are on track to meet the internationally agreed under 2°C target. It is produced by 38 leading scientists from 22 research groups across 14 countries.

Building on the findings of the Fifth Assessment Report by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), UNEP's Emissions Gap Report shows the global emission guardrails that would give a likely chance of staying within the 2°C limit, including a peaking of emissions within the next ten years, a halving of all greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century; and in the second half of the century, carbon neutrality followed by net zero total greenhouse gas emissions.

…[/font][/font]

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Does it give actual pathways?

Having read that page and glanced at the Executive Summary, it seems to quantify how much carbon can be saved with efficiency increases, but doesn't touch what would actually be used to produce the electricity and other energy that is needed. The summary doesn't mention 'solar', 'wind' or 'nuclear' once; all it says about coal is that coal-fired stations ought to be operated at their maximum efficiency.

This doesn't seem like a 'pathway' to me.