Green Flop: Global Decarbonisation Efforts ‘Stall’

Global decarbonisation efforts will need to be seven times greater if the world is to stand a fair chance of limiting global warming to 1.5C, according to a new PwC report which found decarbonisation has slowed to its lowest level since 2011.

PwC UK’s latest Low Carbon Economy Index (LCEI), published today (19 September), found that reaching the Paris Agreement’s 2C limit for global warming would require the global economy to reduce its carbon intensity by 7.5% every year up to 2100. The report notes that this is five times faster than the current decarbonisation rate of 1.6% – less than half the decarbonisation rate witnessed in 2015 (of 3.3%), when the Paris Agreement was introduced.

In order to meet the more ambitious target of the
Paris Agreement – limiting global warming to 1.5C which has been requested by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC’s) special report – decarbonisation rates must
reach 11.3% annually. That is seven times greater than the current rate, which
has slowed to its lowest level since 2011.

Global emissions actually increased by 2% in 2018,
due to a 2.9% increase in energy demand. The report warns that extreme heat and
cold weather patterns contributed to this growth in demand, and will likely
exacerbate decarbonisation efforts in the future. In total, 69% of the increase
in energy demand was met by fossil fuel production.

Global carbon emissions will rise to a new record
level in 2018, making the chances of reaching a target to keep temperature
increases to 1.5 or 2°C “weaker and weaker every year, every month,” the head
of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said.

PwC UK’s director of climate change and co-author of the LCEI Jonathan Grant said: “It’s worrying that progress on climate seems to have stalled. There’s a huge gap between the rhetoric of the ‘climate emergency’ and the reality of policy responses around the world which have been inadequate.”