The U.S. administration has recently unveiled new climate targets. This paper “Modeling the U.S. Climate Agenda: Macro-Climate Trade-offs and Considerations” by Philip Barrett, Katharina Bergant, Jean Chateau, and Rui Mano elaborates on the administration’s plans and uses two models developed at the IMF to illustrate key macro-climate trade-offs.
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The move to Net Zero has become a race as governments, corporations, and societies increasingly advance more ambitious targets to decarbonise and act against climate change. Yet the unspoken reality is that few CEOs or leaders have clear plans to deliver on these goals. Much progress needs to be made to decarbonise at scale and within the timelines proposed.
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Research shows that putting a price on carbon-based fuels, in the form of a fee or tax, can be an effective way of reducing GHG emissions and pollution levels across the globe. By placing higher taxes on carbon-based fuels, households and industries can reduce the level of pollution and look to alternatives like solar power and hydrogen engines, which have lower impacts on the environment. The implementation of a carbon tax system, therefore, provides an incentive for businesses and industries to develop more environmentally friendly production processes.
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Based on their modeling results and assessments of New England’s history with competition and emission control programs, Mr. Hibbard and Mr. Cavicchi found that a progressively increasing price on CO2 emissions would allow for market competition to drive decarbonization in the power sector, while reliably addressing rapidly rising electricity demand in the transportation and building sectors.
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The growth in primary energy over the outlook period is dominated by renewable energy, as the world shifts towards lower-carbon sources of energy. The share of renewable energy (including wind, solar, geothermal and bioenergy but excluding hydro power) increases more than 10-fold in both Rapid and Net Zero.
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Alphabet’s Google aims to power its data centers and offices 24-7 using solely carbon-free electricity by 2030. The tech giant is building on its previous goal of matching its energy use with 100% renewable energy.
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European oil companies—in particular, Equinor, Shell and Total—are investing in CCS, notwithstanding the lack of return, because it is an important part of their decarbonisation narrative and supports their aims to be seen as “responsible” energy companies.
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Can the UK achieve its recent net-zero emissions target by 2050 while still growing? This column describes some speculative routes to such a decarbonised future.
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