Necessary to go for 50 per cent by 2020

The EU should strengthen its climate targets during its European Council meeting in June this year. Large ecosystems around the world are threatened by global temperature increases above 1.5°C. This includes several small island states and low-lying coastal areas in Bangladesh and Egypt, for example, that are threatened by a sea level rise of more than 50 cm and large ecosystems like the arctic sea ice, coral reefs and mountain glaciers.

Temperature increases above this level would also have very serious effects on agricultural production and water availability in Africa and Asia, and could trigger large-scale ocean acidification. This year the EU should therefore stiffen its climate target set up in the 1990s from 2°C to a new target “below 1.5°C” in response to new scientific research about the tipping points of global ecosystems. The 1.5°C target is already supported by more than 100 countries in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Research in the last few years has shown that the window for reaching this temperature target is diminishing very fast if no decisions on very sharp emission cuts for greenhouse gases are taken now. All greenhouse gases must be reduced at the global level by nearly 100 per cent by 2050 at the latest. Carbon dioxide emissions play the key role in achieving the 1.5°C ceiling by 2100 and the remaining carbon budget that is left is very small.

Swedish environmental organisations such as AirClim are strongly recommending the EU to divide the remaining carbon budget on a per-capita principle and to make sure that the EU takes responsibility for historical emissions and reduces emissions much faster than poor countries. These countries in the G77 must have the right to some space for development and cannot reduce emissions as fast as rich industrialised countries.

However, the developing countries should also cut GHG emissions to zero by 2050. AirClim is demanding that the EU and other industrialised countries use domestic measures to reduce emissions by at least 50 per cent by 2020 and after that reduce emissions as soon as possible by 100 per cent long before 2050. The EU has to set up an emergency programme to reach these targets and assist substantially poor countries to develop sustainable energy systems. This would be the first step on a path towards fulfilling the limits of the remaining carbon budget and the 1.5°C target.

Reinhold Pape

In this issue

Several options for cutting ships’ emissions

A mix of regulatory measures, such as emission control areas and fuel efficiency standards, combined with market-based instruments, is the best way of reducing air emissions from shipping, according to a report published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) in December.

NOx emission control in the Baltic Sea

Designating the Baltic Sea as a NOx Emission Control Area will more than halve ships’ NOx emissions by 2040

Strict sulphur standards no threat to shipping

The health benefits alone are worth 27 times more than the costs to the shipping industry, when tougher standards for sulphur emissions are introduced in 2015.

Air pollution in the UK linked to 200,000 deaths

Reducing concentrations of particulate air pollution would lead to significant gains for public health, according to new review from an independent expert group.

Further cuts in emissions of air pollutants needed

The European Environment Agency (EEA) recently released its fourth state of the environment report (SOER 2010), providing a comprehensive assessment of how and why Europe’s environment is changing.

Policy action improves air quality in Europe

A new study by the European Environment Agency (EEA) evaluates three key EU policy instruments for air pollution control and finds that they have significantly improved Europe’s air quality and reduced pollution-induced health damage. There is however scope for further improvement, if countries achieve all their binding commitments to reduce emissions.

Ongoing negotiations for new emission ceilings

Europe-wide solutions for step-wise improvements of health and the environment at the least overall cost are being investigated.

High economic benefits of new NEC directive

The annual benefits of achieving the interim targets of the thematic strategy on air pollution are valued at 15-49 billion euro in 2020.

How to cut global energy use by three quarters

It will probably be difficult to replace all fossil fuels with sustainable energy. But if we first cut energy demand it will be much easier – and the potential for energy efficiency is huge!

Carbon dioxide controls Earth’s temperature

Water vapour and clouds are the major contributors to Earth’s greenhouse effect, but a new atmosphere-ocean climate modelling study shows that the planet’s temperature ultimately depends on the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide.

100 per cent renewable energy globally by 2050

The world could be fuelled by 95 per cent renewable energy by 2050, according to a report by WWF, while maintaining rates of economic growth and with small lifestyle changes.

Negotiating forests in the Climate Convention

Among the plethora of acronyms flooding global climate negotiations, LULUCF is one of the most frequently used. Interpreted Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry it has been a controversial issue in the negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol and its implementation since the beginning. The battle is still raging in an almost impenetrable fog of calculation methods, reference levels, caps and exceptions and with devils in virtually every detail.

The remaining carbon budget

Between 750 Gt and 1000 Gt of global CO₂ emissions is all that remains if the world is to have a 75 per cent chance of staying below the 2°C target, according to three reports.